


Those Lovely Marks

by Squirrel_Stone



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers Family, Coulson Lives, Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it, Depression, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, IKEA, Jumping on the Bandwagon, Multi, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS, Self-Hatred, Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Suicidal Thoughts, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Thor Is Not Stupid, who needs ships when you can have an armada
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 23:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 22,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3267716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's very rare for someone to have more than two or three soulmates, platonic or otherwise. Of course Darcy, ever the rebel, would wind up with... well, let's just say more than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Soulmate Shorts AKA The Crackship Armada](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658407) by [ozhawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozhawk/pseuds/ozhawk). 



> I've seen all these oneshots of characters being soulmates in just one universe, and I just figured why not take the soulmate thing and put all the relationships in one universe... at least for Darcy.

The majority of it had been easy for Tony… once the ball got rolling. First was Rhodey, whom he forever (jokingly) blamed for his self-esteem issues as a child. The words “You’re annoying. -JR” being written across Tony’s right bicep since the day he was born. For a brief time, yes, he’d been extremely embarrassed about those words, but his mother would always sit him down when he got upset over them and tell him he was a good person and maybe his soulmate was just joking or something like that.

But no, Rhodey had meant it completely when he first met Tony. After evading the army for three weeks in regards to his father’s inventions, Rhodey finally caught up to Tony in Malibu. “You’re annoying,” he declared simply, approaching Tony in uniform.

“And intelligent,” Tony replied with a smirk, taking a sip of a mojito. “I thought you would take a week to find me; obviously I’ve outsmarted you.”

Rhodey wasn’t impressed, but he sat down and stole the mojito from Tony. “I’m gonna need more of these if I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with you,” he finally declared with a sigh.

The next after him was Pepper, the words “I’m your new PA. -VP” in pleasing script on his left hip, slanting downward. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that relationship was going to be anything but platonic.

After she said those words to Tony, he replied promptly with, “That’s nice. You’re fired.”

Pepper was shocked for… well, a lot of reasons. For one, her soulmate was Tony Stark! And he’d just fired her because… why?

“Is this because I’m your soulmate?” she demanded.

Tony looked up at her, his eyes just barely displaying his surprise. “Okay, you’re unfired,” he decided. “My reason was because I don’t need a new PA for Stane to use to spy on me.”

“I’m your PA, not his,” she assured him. She tried to tell herself that they were meant to be platonic because A, she was not going to get into a relationship with her boss, and B, she wasn’t going to quit just because he was her soulmate.

It was a strange decade of denial.

It was quite some time after that before he found any others, but when he did, “Rushman, Natalie Rushman. –NR,” “Mr. Stark. –SR,” “Do not touch me again. –TO,” “He’s got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier. –BB,” and “Wanna give me a lift. -CB” came in short order. Despite having eight sets of words in all, only one wasn’t platonic so far, and the only one he hadn’t met didn’t exactly seem too happy to meet him judging by the words.

He was born with all eight marks in a world that frowned upon having more than three, even if the majority of the relationships were platonic. Of course, being a billionaire softened the bullying he would have received, but it didn’t prevent Tony from feeling like an outcast. After all, who else would have that many marks?

Apparently the answer to that question was Natasha, the third person he met, the one whose mark on him danced across his right shoulder, the name ‘Rushman’ in English both times, but the name ‘Natalie’ being translated back to Russian. In fact, the Avengers came to notice that Natasha’s words were in Russian for each of them, and they had each translated them at one point or another before meeting her. Still, that left three sets of words unaccounted for, one of which Tony only saw on accident after catching her in the shower- she said if he told anyone, his body would never be recovered.

* * *

 

Generally, Natasha was rather open about her marks. Obviously the Avengers had all figured out each other’s marks in relation to one another, and she didn’t particularly care if people saw the one from whoever wanted to know how she was (she found out later that it was Sam Wilson) or the one who didn’t want to go somewhere with her. The only one she cared to hide properly was the one that surrounded a bullet wound she had gotten. “There is no ‘nice’ here. -JB” it read.

It was… what, 1950? Maybe a couple of years earlier, but certainly no later. The modified soldier serum had slowed down her aging process and even though she was well into her twenties, she looked like she was fifteen at best. The Red Room, the Bolshoi, it was just one tangled mass in her head at the time, and she thought she was meeting a new ballet instructor.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” she’d greeted him, a smile on her face.

She’d been punched in the stomach by a metal fist and beaten until she was black and blue. Then her attacker, instructor, future lover, whatever he was, told her the words. It was then that she realized she wasn’t with the Bolshoi. She was a Black Widow. That was when the training truly began.

“Hey, Nat, you with us?” Steve asked, and the former Russian flashed the group a smile, forcing a smile onto her face.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “Spaced out.”

* * *

Steve had grown up embarrassed with his three marks. All of them were older than him, he was sure—it was rare to be born with the marks of those younger than you. “I’ve come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes! –TO” was written in a Nordic-type font in red and silver on the inside of his left forearm, taking up almost the entirety skin there. “You alright? –JB” was tiny, on the inner side of his right pinky finger, the script more like blocks in black. “Gentlemen, I’m Agent Carter, I supervise all operations of this division. –PC” was in a loopy, feminine blue script on top of his right shoulder and making it down to the top of his arm. He questioned Agent Carter’s gender on more than one occasion; it was rare to have a female running operations, but the thought of having a strong, determined partner gave Steve no grief.

Another mark appeared when he was young, a lengthy one in blood red that wrapped around from his middle spine to his stomach and read, “There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet? –NR.” Who Coulson and Captain America were, he didn’t know, and honestly, he didn’t quite care.

He was embarrassed with the marks for a very simple reason: he could never figure out who was platonic and who was romantic. After meeting Bucky, they had jumped back and forth between the two more times than he cared to count, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the other three would be the same.

Peggy wound up being romantic, but he thought he would never get to find out about TO and NR. He wound up in the ice before he could even meet anyone with the initials TO, much less someone with his words. He’d met a couple of people with the initials NR, but once again, no one with his words.

Waking up, Steve felt the tingling warmth he felt when he was young and got Natasha’s marks. At first, he ignored it, instead focusing on getting out of wherever he was being kept, but after allowing Fury to take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s New York headquarters, he looked at his arms, his back, his legs, everywhere, trying to find the mark he knew was there.

Or, as it would be, marks. He now had ten marks in total, an astounding number. He’d never known anyone with that many, not even Howard. All his old marks were still there, though Peggy’s was fading, but he counted six new ones. “A lot of people were. You were the world’s first superhero. –PC” was written in gray on the top of his foot in a basic, straight-line font. “Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming. –BB” was on his right wrist, green and purple and on his pulse point. “Captain. –AS” was in fire engine red, taking up far more room than it should have been on his left pectoral.

He already wanted to slap AS. Seriously, could they not come up with a clearer introduction.

“I can. –CB” was on the underside of his middle right finger. Once again, he was frustrated with the simple introduction. At least “Uh-huh, on my left. Got it. –SW” had something original to say, even if it took Steve ten minutes to find it on the back of his left knee. His personal favorite was “Hey there Capsicle. –DL” running down the left side of his spine in electric blue. At least someone had a sense of humor about his situation, even if he couldn’t just yet.

* * *

 

The official meeting between Clint and Bruce was almost comical. For groups, it wasn’t rare for individuals not to talk to each other for a while after meeting, and they often wouldn’t realize it until they spoke to one another for the first time. For Clint and Bruce, it was after the Battle of New York when they were all eating shawarma.

“This is actually pretty good shawarma,” Bruce declared, nodding a little as he spoke to everyone. He’d had more than his fair share in his travels, and this was the first time a restaurant in America matched up to the authentic cuisine.

Clint nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s really authentic and HOW ARE WE ALL ALIVE?”

Everyone jumped a little at Clint’s outburst, the question coming to their minds as well. Bruce just bit back a smile.

* * *

It took the Avengers longer than any of them cared to admit to realize that while they all had each other’s fonts and words on their skin, there was another they all shared. It was the same blue as the Tesseract and in a delicate, feminine handwriting, and there were times when one of them would swear the words would shimmer and glow.

They made bets on when they would meet DL.

Tony had twenty on Natasha being the first of them to meet DL. Steve had thirty on Pepper’s words coming immediately after Tony insulted DL. Bruce put ten on one of them scaring DL half to death.

They made bets on why DL would come into their lives.

“Scientist,” Clint bet, throwing fifteen dollars into the pot. It had started out as a pile on the table when they were drunk, but one of them (no one remembered who) brought out an actual pot to put the money in. People would write their bets and names on dollar bills and toss it into the pot whenever they got the chance.

Two days later, Natasha came in with a split lip and a gash in her head and dropped a ten dollar bill in the pot. “Asgardian,” she declared.

The next to make a bet was Thor with a couple of gold coins. “A witch,” he decided. “She has to be a witch.”

Pepper actually laughed at that one. “You’re telling me witches are real now, too?” she asked.

Thor nodded like it was the simplest thing in the world.

The redhead sighed and shook her head. “Well, if everyone else is doing it, I might as well, too.” There were whoops and hollers as Pepper pulled out a fifty dollar bill and wrote down her bet. “DL is probably just someone totally normal who gets wrapped up in this on accident, one of you is going to scare him or her, and he or she is going to hurt whoever it is so bad that you wind up in the hospital.”

Oddly enough, none of them made bets on who was platonic with DL and who was romantic.

As it turned out, Pepper, Steve, and Bruce were all right.


	2. The Start of an Interesting Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's got a lot of marks.

Darcy had grown up being called a number of things, most of which she preferred not to say out loud. It came with the territory of having even five marks, much less twenty-three. Yeah, that kind of threw her parents for a doozy. Born with twenty-three marks, Darcy knew at least two of them were younger than her, like from some sixth sense. However, other people did not see her marks as something to praise. She was bullied in school, beaten nearly every day, mocked mercilessly.

Her mother told her it just meant she had a lot of love to share with the world, but she heard her parents’ whispers in the night. Suggestions that she get skin-colored tattoos to cover most of the marks. Thankfully, Darcy had evaded any attempts to hide her marks. She hated them as much as everyone else did, but there had to be someone out there who loved them. Multiple someones, apparently.

She had each and every one of them memorized.

“Great, nice to meet you. You can get started by alphabetizing those files. –JF” was on her right calf in sunset orange.

“Sorry, she’s a bit abrasive when she’s on a roll. –ES” was on the inside of her right wrist in navy.

“You dare threaten me, Thor! –TO” was in a red, Nordic-type font on her right clavicle.

“Your belongings will be returned once they are no longer an issue of national security. –PC” was on her left thigh in grey print.

“So have you ever been to New York? –NR” was on her ribcage on the right in blood red.

“So you’re the intern Foster refuses to work without? –AS” was in fire engine red on top of her right foot.

“What he means is ‘hello.’ –VP” was in pale pink script on the top of her left foot. Every now and then, Darcy wondered if VP had any connection with AS.

“Uh… I’d assume so. –BB” was on the top of her left thumb, fading from green to purple.

“Really? We haven’t even been properly introduced, and that’s what you’re calling me? –SR” was in blue wrapping around her left wrist.

“Hard not to be when your mind’s been screwed with. –CB” was on her stomach in violet, the writing practically chicken scratch.

“So this is the worthless human caretaker? –LO” was in dark green, a Nordic-type script that somehow looked better than TO’s, and was conveniently where a tramp stamp would be. Perfect for someone who calls her worthless upon their first meeting.

“What is up is that your team is being uncooperative. –NF” was on her left shoulder in a cold, sharp, black font. On the one hand, cool! She had a team! On the other hand, they were doing something bad.

“Please, just stay away from me!” had no initials and was in pale purple on the front of her left thigh. Darcy vowed to help whoever it was.

“Coulson did. –BM” was on the palm of her left hand in yellow.

“So Coulson says you’re the one with the heart. –MM” was underneath her right breast in mint green. The one with the heart. It sounded so poetic, joyful even.

“My name… I’ve got a name. –JB” was on the back of her neck in black, block lettering.

“You’re the one who found him? –SW” worked its way down her right arm like a wing, the lettering slanted but in black print.

“Ah, you must be my new helper for Barnes. –JS” was written across the back of her right knee in a sky blue color.

“Never before have I seen someone that messed up. –AM” spanned her middle back in marroon. She hoped he or she wasn’t talking about her.

“So you’re the little lover girl. Pleasure to meet you. –LH” wrapped around her left ankle in forest green.

“Do we really get to work here? –LF” had a color that matched JS and was on the front of the same knee.

“Yeah right. –PM” and “She means it. –WM” formed a double helix above her left hip in the purest forms of blue and red respectively. Those were the ones who were younger than her.

Needless to say, she was in for an interesting life.


	3. The First Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Darcy meets Jane, Erik, Thor, and Coulson. And everything is weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy flippers, you guys, thank you all so much for your kind reviews!

Anxiety filled Darcy’s stomach as she got into her car and started driving down the dusty road to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. This was her first time being so far away from home—even Culver was just an hour’s drive from her house. At least she’d convinced her dad to ship her car over for her. That had taken a while.

The newly-minted intern glanced out the window, admiring the scenery. Driving over a mountain turned the desert into a lush forest almost instantly, but she’d done enough research to know that Puente Antiguo was not in this area. No, she would be back in the desert within the hour. Still, that didn’t stop her from admiring the trees as she drove in the rain. She almost wanted to stop and stay there forever.

But she wanted six college credits more.

It was late in the afternoon when Darcy got to the little town, and she briefly wondered how they kept themselves alive so far out in the middle of nowhere. Obviously they were doing just fine, otherwise Dr. Foster wouldn’t have set up camp there.

Darcy parked her car at the address she had been given and turned off the car, taking her purse in with her. Instantly, she was met with corkboards and white boards with pictures and half-written equations all over them.

“Jane, you’ve got to eat something!” a man’s voice called, and Darcy turned her head to see an elderly man dangling a sandwich in front of a young woman, who was too focused on her work to even notice.

“I’ll eat when I’m dead,” Jane replied, not looking up from her work.

The man laughed at her, though there was still some concern in his voice. “Jane, if you don’t eat something, that day will come much sooner.”

“Hey,” Darcy interrupted, giving the duo a wave. “I’m the new intern. The name’s Darcy.”

The woman nodded, only half listening to what the brunette had to say. “Great, nice to meet you. You can get started by alphabetizing those files,” she muttered, pointing in the direction of a desk covered with files that had been taken out without much care.

Darcy shrugged and started over to the desk, only to be stopped by the elderly man, he offering her the sandwich now. “Sorry, she’s a bit abrasive when she’s on a roll,” he explained.

The new intern took the sandwich with a smile. “I gotcha,” she assured him. “My dad’s a lawyer and the same way. I picked up some tricks from my mom about making sure workaholics stay fed and cleaned.”  She let out a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized. “I just… you and Jane, you two are my first.”

The man smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Well, you’re in good care,” he promised. “She may be a little crazy on the science, but when she takes a break, she’s got a good soul.”

“Not gonna toot your own horn?” Darcy asked with a little smile.

“No, no, definitely not,” he replied. “I stopped doing that when I turned thirty. I figured anyone whose words showed up on me after that would be platonic.”

Darcy let out a little laugh, and reached out to hug the man.

The next one was a few months later, and there were quite a few problems in that case. First of all, it took her a minute to realize she had just tased one of her soulmates. Secondly, after she’d tased him, he woke up with no memory of what had happened in that instant. Third, he was kind of a Norse God and also connected to Jane, so she didn’t mention anything. There was too much going on to admit to Thor that they were soulmates. From then on, she never mentioned the whole soulmate thing.

After Thor was Phil Coulson. She’d followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent out of the office, a scowl on her face. “Are you seriously going to take my iPod, too?” she demanded.

There was a moment where surprise flashed over the agent’s face, but he quickly recovered. “Your belongings will be returned once they are no longer an issue of national security.”

Darcy was too shocked to object.

In 2012, she watched as his letters faded to an outline in 2012, only to come back at full strength a month later. She knew an outline meant death, but what did it mean when they came back?


	4. The Next Few

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy meets Natasha, Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Steve, and Clint.
> 
> And Thor gets hit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm procrastinating on writing my lab report, so here you go!

Natasha Romanoff was the fifth soulmate Darcy met, the woman coming to New Mexico to bring Jane and Darcy to New York after the whole Chitauri disaster thing. The move had been scheduled ahead of time with some other random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Darcy forgot the name of, but when they went to the airport, Natasha was waiting for them.

“So have you ever been to New York?” she asked Darcy after speaking with Jane for a moment.

Instantly, Darcy frowned, trying to come up with some words that would get her out of this. For the girl who had once wanted to seek out her soulmates, she was suddenly very afraid of finding them. “No, and I assume now is not the best time to go,” she finally replied.

Natasha gave her a strange look before nodding in understanding, walking back to the plane. “Wheels up in ten!”

Honestly, Natasha had to stop herself from calling the team and letting them know about Darcy Lewis. That would just result in everyone being all awkward and standing around in the common room waiting for her. Instead, she sat across from Darcy, remaining silent for the duration of the trip.

* * *

 

Once they were back in the Tower, Natasha gave Thor a good swat on the back of the head. “Seriously, you were the first to meet her; how could you not know it was Darcy?” she hissed, glaring at the god.

Thor’s eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced back at Darcy, who was reluctantly talking to Tony and Pepper. “She is the one with the blue script?” he asked. “I-” he hesitated, trying to come up with the best way to put it. “I suffered a small amount of memory loss after Darcy tasered me in our first meeting. Jane had to clarify that she had my words and I had hers. Why wouldn’t Darcy say anything?”

Natasha shrugged. “I’m not sure; she kind of brushed me off when we said each other’s words. If she’s on all of us, it would make sense that she’s a little shy about her marks. Not many people have more than three or four. We know she has at least seven.”

“Jane and Erik are also her soulmates,” Thor declared. “That makes nine in total.”

A sad look crossed Natasha’s face; she realized just how bad it must have been growing up with nine marks. Once you were an adult, you were more likely to appreciate the marks and the relationships they stood for, but kids could be cruel.

* * *

 

Despite meeting Tony, Pepper, and Bruce on that first day—

_Tony: So you’re the intern Foster refuses to work without?  
_ _Darcy: You bet I am._

_Pepper: What he means is ‘hello.’  
_ _Darcy: Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I know what he meant._

_Darcy: So you’re one of the guys I’m gonna be helping?  
_ _Bruce: Uh… I’d assume so._

—it took Darcy three weeks to meet another. Oddly enough, she wasn’t even in Avengers Tower when it happened. Instead, she was out jogging and came across Steve in Central Park.

She sped to catch up to the man, who was thankfully only walking, and gently tapped his arm. “Hey there, Capsicle,” she greeted him, a smile on her face as she let herself slow down.

“Really?” Steve asked, recognizing the girl from around the Tower and feeling slightly amused. “We haven’t even been properly introduced, and that’s what you’re calling me?”

Darcy’s face fell, and Steve went into sad puppy mode. “I’m sorry, I was just joking, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he quickly went on. He reached out to take her hand as he apologized, only to see the writing wrapping around her wrist. His writing. “Oh. That’s why.”

“Yeah,” Darcy replied, a blush appearing on her face as she looked away from the hero. “I um… yeah.”

“How many of the others know?” Steve asked. “We’re all marked with you.”

Darcy sighed and wandered down the path, Steve following her lead. “There’s you, Natasha, Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Jane, and Erik,” she explained. “Thor, also, but he forgot after I tased him. But I think Natasha told him, so…”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Steve asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked the girl over, noting that this was the first time he’d seen her wearing something that revealed her arms. Normally, she wore sweaters that at least reached the base of her palms, and Steve understood why. With the tank top, he was able to see eight marks in total.

The brunette laughed (at him? at the question?) and rolled her eyes. “Steve, I have twenty-three marks,” she declared, the first time she’d said it out loud. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “I was born with all of them, and whenever I tried to make a new friend as a kid, either they wouldn’t want to be near me or their parents wouldn’t want me to ‘dirty’ their child. After all, who would want to be friends with a whore who has as many marks as me? Whenever I got older and tried to start a relationship with someone, same thing. They’d realize I had more marks than I let on, and they’d call me a slut or a whore or a skank. I spent my entire life being told by everyone that even the people whose marks matched with me wouldn’t want to be near me because I wasn’t pure and I could never love someone completely. Well it’s not true. I can love twenty-three people with my whole heart, but I kind of doubt that twenty-three people could love someone with all these marks.”

Darcy turned to leave, but Steve grabbed her hand, pulling her back towards him. He slowly raised his free hand, cupping her cheek. “Darcy, if we’re your soulmates, _and we are_ , then it doesn’t matter. We love you completely. And absolutely nothing will change that.” Steve leaned down, placing his lips over Darcy’s for a chaste kiss.

* * *

 

Darcy met Clint that night—well, technically very early the next morning—as she walked into the kitchen to prepare a bowl of cereal. “Nice to know I’m not the only one awake at three in the morning,” she declared.

Clint glanced over his shoulder. “Hard not to be when your mind’s been screwed with,” he replied before shoving a spoonful of cocoa puffs into his mouth.

Darcy avoided his gaze but sat down next to him once she’d gotten her cereal. She reached out and took his free hand in her own, giving it a light squeeze for comfort. “You’ve got us,” she told him in a whisper.

The two finished eating in silence, their fingers interlocked. After, the two headed into the common room, and Darcy grabbed the TV remote, turning the channel to _Catch Me if You Can_.

Everyone else found them the next morning, Darcy’s head on Clint’s chest and Clint with his arms wrapped around Darcy. The cheering woke them up.


	5. A Change of Behavior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy shows some skin, Thor is a french fry thief, and Loki makes breakfast... kind of.

For the first time in her life, Darcy didn’t mind someone seeing her without her sweaters and jeans covering her up. It had taken time for her to get used to it, of course, but there had to be slow steps to progress. The first step was Steve seeing her jogging in her tank top and pants. Normally, she moved too quickly for anyone to notice her marks, but this was the first time she slowed down and talked to someone.

The second step was more of an embarrassment than the first. She woke up to her phone ringing, and she answered it with a weak, “Hello?”

“Darcy!” Jane yelled over the other end of the line. “Where are you? Steve just brought back lunch, and if you don’t get to the common room, Thor’s gonna eat your burger.”

Confused, Darcy glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly noon. “I’ll be right there,” she assured her boss. “Don’t let Thor near my french fries!”

There was some hesitation from Jane before she replied, “You should probably hurry.”

With a moan, Darcy hung up the phone and leaped out of bed, running to the common room in the t-shirt and shorts she slept in, not even bothering to put on slippers. She got to the room just in time to snatch up her burger and fries, flopping down in an oversized chair.

She didn’t even realize she was still in her pajamas until Bruce mentioned it. “You look nice,” he declared, looking over her visible marks: his, Jane’s, Erik’s, Coulson’s, Tony’s, Pepper’s, and the as-of-yet unidentified SW, BM, JS, and LF.

Darcy had blushed a little, shifting in her seat. “Thanks,” she muttered.

It took her a while after that, but Darcy’s sweaters and jeans turned to t-shirts and capris and the occasional dress as they neared summer. The pool party was the next step.

Jane, Pepper, and Natasha dragged Darcy out to the mall after finding out she had no swimwear. “We lived in New Mexico for nearly a year; how do you not have a bathing suit?” Jane demanded.

“I was too busy working for you!” Darcy insisted.

“Well now we’re having a party,” Pepper replied. “And we are going to get you into something nice.”

People were taking photos of them as they shopped, but if any of them noticed it… well, Darcy was the only one to pay attention. “Isn’t this a little weird?” she asked Natasha. “Being photographed all the time?”

“It takes some getting used to, but for now…” Natasha raised her voice, glaring at the fans. “Shoo! Off with you! Leave the poor girl alone!”

Darcy giggled a little, a blush appearing on her face. “Thank you,” she told the spy.

Natasha rubbed the brunette’s shoulder. “Any time,” she assured her.

Despite their best efforts, Darcy bought a one-piece instead of a bikini, and she wore a t-shirt over it until she got at the edge of the pool. Amazingly, once Darcy got to having fun in the water, she completely forgot about her marks.

“So Steve got first kiss?” Tony asked, a smirk on his face. “Lucky man.”

Darcy laughed and shook her head before splashing Tony. “You’ll get your turn,” she promised.

Tony grinned. “Can I take that turn now?” he asked, leaning in and kissing Darcy. The young woman readily accepted him by wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

Suddenly, Tony was hit in the head by a foam football. The couple pulled apart, both trying to find the thrower. “Not in the pool!” Pepper scolded them.

Tony didn’t skip a beat, responding, “Why? You wanna join in?”

“Maybe later,” she replied.

Darcy gradually swam over to the deep end, resting her back against the wall. Jane came up next to her and gently nudged the intern in the stomach. “So are you liking all the attention you’re getting?” she asked.

A light blush crossed Darcy’s face as she nodded. “It feels nice,” she confessed. “I’m not used to people liking me or my marks, and I’m not used to being loved. As far as I can tell, you and Erik are the only platonic soulmates I have so far.”

“Well I promise that there will never again be a day where you don’t feel loved,” Jane declared. “You have a lot of marks, a lot of soulmates, for a reason. We all love you, and we’ll never stop.”

After dinner, Darcy was the first to leave the party. She was well past exhausted and just wanted to get to her room and take a shower before going to sleep. She walked into her apartment, so tired that she almost walked past the uninvited guest sitting on her couch.

Darcy stopped and gave the man a strange look, recognition on her face.

Loki smirked as he got up from his seat and took a couple of steps towards Darcy, the young woman too scared to move. “So this is the worthless human caretaker?” he asked, looking her up and down.

That finally got a reaction out of Darcy. She had been called worthless (among other things) her whole life, and now she finally getting some sort of reward for waiting. “Why does everyone keep assuming I’m not important?” she demanded, her voice dark and angry.

Loki pulled back, his smirk fading. Those words were written on the palm of his left hand, and he had promised himself long ago that he would do everything he could to make the person who said those words feel better. It never occurred to him that he would be the reason she was saying those words.

“You’re her,” he finally whispered. “I am… so sorry.”

“Yeah,” Darcy replied, her anger growing. “And do you have any idea what it’s like to live your entire life knowing that the first thing one of your soulmates is going to say to you is that you’re worthless? It sucks! It’s bad enough that I have more marks than I have friends right now, but I grew up with the word ‘worthless’ stamped on my back! Please, explain how you can look me in the eye and say you’re sorry. You were gonna kill me, weren’t you? Just kill that friend of Thor’s, make him suffer. After all, she’s just some _worthless human caretaker_!” Tears shone in her eyes, but she blinked them back, refusing to let them fall.

“I didn’t know,” Loki answered in a low voice. “And I wasn’t going to kill you.”

Darcy took in a shaky breath. “How are you even here?” she asked. “I thought you were locked up in some Asgardian prison.”

Loki watched the girl’s arms—her hands were shaking. He just wanted to hold her close and promise her that he would never hurt her again, do his best to never anger her, never upset her. But life didn’t work that way. “I was offered a lighter sentence if I came to Earth and helped repair the damage I have done,” he finally told her. “I heard that you were the caretaker and thought that you would be the best liaison for speaking with the other Avengers.”

“And that’s how you convince a girl to help you?” Darcy demanded. “You call her worthless? Poor form, Loki. Poor form. Get out of my apartment.”

The woman turned to go to her room, but Loki grabbed her hand. “Please,” he asked of her, “just let me prove that I am not the man who attacked this city. If you let me stay the night, I will prepare breakfast for you in the morrow and provide you with anything you so desire.”

Darcy shook her head, a tear finally slipping down her cheek. “My love cannot be bought by empty promises, and neither can my—nor the city’s—forgiveness,” she declared. “You can stay, but you need to prove yourself to me before I let anyone know about you. Otherwise, I will drive your sorry ass back to New Mexico myself and yell at the sky for Heimdall until he opens the Bifrost to take you back. Do you understand?”

Loki nodded. “Thank you,” he replied. He leaned in to kiss Darcy, but she turned her head and placed a hand on his chest to gently push him away.

“Don’t,” she ordered. “You have a lot to prove before I so much as let you touch me again. I’ve got a guest room; you can sleep there.”

Reluctantly, Loki dropped her hand and took a step back. Darcy didn’t look at him as she pointed to the guest room, the dejected god sulking off.

* * *

 

Despite being determined not to think about the trickster god that night, Darcy did just that, only coming up with an idea at four in the morning. Needless to say, she waited until breakfast to present it.

Darcy walked out of her room to see Loki setting two plates of food on her breakfast table. “Wow,” she muttered. “You weren’t kidding about the breakfast thing.”

“I most certainly was not,” Loki assured her. “I understand that bacon and eggs are common for mortals to eat before noon?”

“Yeah,” Darcy confirmed, sitting down at the table. “Did you make all this?”

Loki sat down across from her. “Well, I made it with magic, if that’s what you mean,” he declared. “I grew up having my meals made for me, so cooking is not one of my greatest skills.”

Darcy took a bite of the bacon and was surprised to find that it was actually pretty good. Not that she’d say it out loud. “On the topic of magic, how good are you with the whole ice thing?” she asked. “I mean, I know you only found out you were from Jotunheim recently, but-”

“I am perfectly capable of forming ice at will,” he cut her off, fearing she would ramble. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I don’t know how big of an issue building fires are on Asgard, but here on Earth, they’re common, and they’re deadly,” she explained. “I was thinking your first job could be to neutralize large fires with your powers. But if there’s anyone in the buildings, you need to get them out first, otherwise you could give them frostbite or something.”

Loki nodded, digesting the information. “You’re asking me to pull some people away from fire and then put the fire out?” he checked. “That sounds doable.”

“Good,” Darcy replied with a little nod. “You need to be discreet, too. S.H.I.E.L.D. may have done a good job at erasing your involvement in Stuttgart and the Battle of New York, but the agents and the Avengers still know who you are.”

“Understood,” he agreed. “And I will be doing this all day?”

Darcy hesitated, wondering just how long he would consider ‘day’ to be. “Just a second.” She got up and dug through a little basket on her coffee table. She returned with a wristwatch in her hand. “This thing tells the time. When the big and little hands are both on the twelve, come back here to eat lunch and rest until the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the one. After that, keep working until the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the five. Got it?”

Loki raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you really think I am unable to tell time?” he asked.

“Thor was confused when Jane got him a watch because there was no triangle for the sun to use to cast a shadow,” Darcy explained. “I’m just making sure.”

Loki bit back a laugh and shook his head. “Yes, my brother had a tendency to be more concerned with war and battle than with understanding how things worked in other realms. Don’t worry about me; I’ve read Shakespeare and Chaucer and… I tried once reading a book by a woman named Stephenie Meyer, but it was so awful that I fed it to a lindworm.”

Darcy snorted, covering her mouth. “Yeah, I know the book you’re talking about,” she replied, nodding a bit. “It’s not the best in modern literature.”

The two finished breakfast, and Loki went off to complete his task while Darcy headed down to the lab.

* * *

 

Around four in the afternoon, Darcy and the Science Club were taking a break, sitting around and watching the early news.

_“Today, two three-alarm fires and one four-alarm fire were all put out before the fire department could arrive,” the reporter on the screen declared. “Despite the fact that multiple engines were expected to be necessary to contain these fires, nothing was needed. Some are suggesting that natural wind patterns put out the fires, but I have never seen wind make fires like these easier to control. No one was hurt in any of these fires, but many have suffered memory loss of the time it took for them to get out of the buildings. This is Mary Keller, reporting live.”_

“I’m with the reporter,” Bruce instantly stated once the story was over. “Summer wind in those areas would make the fires worse, not better.”

Tony looked over to Bruce and jokingly asked, “What? You don’t believe in miracles?”

“Well, we’ve met alien gods, and Bruce, when you get high blood pressure, you double in size and turn green,” Erik added in. “I don’t think it would be out of the question to think that someone may have dropped a raincloud on it or willed it to go away or some other magic nonsense.”

“You think Thor did this?” Jane asked skeptically.

Erik shook his head. “Thor would make a show,” he reminded the woman. “Maybe just someone who got in an accident and got powers somehow.”

Darcy grabbed her coffee and took a sip, pleased that no one had mentioned Loki yet. “We need to come up with a name for ordinary humans with superpowers. It’s kind of a mouthful.”

“The comics always called ‘em metahumans,” Tony offered. “How’s that for short?”

Darcy shrugged, not having anything better.


	6. Save #AgentCarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Darcy watch a movie, Clint loves Darcy, and Squirrel wants you to watch Agent Carter.

Darcy went back up to her apartment at five to make sure Loki made it back safely and had something to eat for dinner. To her surprise, he was eating a charred chicken wing. “Magic?” she asked warily.

“Fire,” he corrected her. “It got the chicken before I could get there.”

“Please tell me you at least removed the feathers.”

Loki only grinned and nodded. “That was the magic part,” he confessed. “I’ve taken care of four fires today—no human casualties. You lot are really bad about open flames.”

Darcy let out a little laugh and sat down at the table with him. “Yeah, magically controlled fires are kind of out of our reach… Controlled fires _at all_ are sometimes out of our reach. Depends on who you ask.” Hesitantly, she grabbed a drumstick from the plate and took a bite out of it.

Once she finished chewing, she went on. “The Science Club thinks it’s a metahuman stopping the fires,” she declared. “No one’s said anything about taking any action against you, so… that’s good.”

“Indeed it is,” Loki agreed. There was a long pause between the two. “I’d like to apologize for my earlier behavior. It was callous and unnecessary and petty.”

Darcy nodded. “Yeah, yeah it was. Why would you call me worthless?”

Loki took a deep breath. “I know it is no excuse, but after learning that I am from Jotunheim, I got rather… defensive. All my life, I grew up with stories of the evilness of Jotuns, stories told by my own parents who knew what I was, only to learn I was one. For quite some time now, the best way I’ve found to defend myself against allegations of being a heartless monster is to choose when I act the part. Give people their pick of lesser charges for which I cannot be tried.”

“Like attacking New York?” Darcy asked, skeptical of his response.

“Like being rude and callous,” Loki corrected. “New York was a different animal entirely.”

Darcy leaned forward in her seat. “What do you mean a different animal?” she asked. She understood the metaphor, but what had caused this charming man to attack a city only to return and _not_ try the same thing, she was unaware.

“That, Miss Lewis, is a question you do not want to know the answer to,” Loki replied. “Even as my soulmate, _especially_ as my soulmate, that is something you do not want to hear about.” Loki sat back in his chair, obviously wanting to be away from Darcy’s line of questioning. “So what is this I hear about films that you have on Midgard?”

Reluctantly, Darcy let the topic of the invasion go and instead transitioned to movies. They wound up watching _Silver Linings Playbook_ , Darcy nestled in Loki’s lap with a blanket over her body.

“Why do none of these people have soulmarks?” Loki eventually asked.

Darcy wrinkled her nose, not a fan of the answer she had to give. “Some people think it’s a romantic notion not to know who you’ll wind up with, especially in Hollywood. Another problem is that both the leads were married, and it’s incredibly rare to marry someone without being soulmates. Supposedly it makes the plot more complex.”

“If they think the only way to make the plot complex is to remove one of the most important pieces of a person, they are truly mistaken,” Loki declared. “I think it’s safe to say that we have plenty interesting going on here with our marks.”

“I agree,” Darcy replied, snuggling up a little bit closer to Loki. Darcy was at a loss to understand it, but she loved curling up against her soulmates. And it seemed that they all liked it as much as she did. On movie nights, she would always wind up crawling into someone’s lap or burying her face in their chest.

* * *

 

Another week had passed before Darcy even considered putting in a good word about Loki. She waited until there was a party and everyone was in a good mood, and even then she wasn’t direct about it.

“You know, maybe we should find the guy who’s been putting out these fires and stuff,” she suggested. “I heard he’s even stopped a few robberies and muggings.”

Bruce gave her a doubtful look. “Do you really think we could find this guy?” he asked. “He’s in and out before anyone can get on the scene. No one can get any pictures; he’s practically a ghost.”

Darcy sighed. “But if we could find him,” she amended. “Hypothetically, what do you think would happen?”

Clint piped up this time. “I think it depends on whether or not he wants to join,” he confessed with a shrug. “There might be a reason he’s evading the spotlight, but if he’s interested, there’s a good chance he would do well in the team.”

A smile crossed over Darcy’s lips, only to slowly fade as she thought of how the Avengers might react to Loki. The idea was more than a bit frightening. As far as she could tell, she was the only one in the room who was his soulmate. She might have been the only one who would possibly feel sympathy for him.

Clint and Darcy stuck together for the rest of the party, discussing the idea of a new hero in the city and on the team. They talked all evening, Clint even going with Darcy to her apartment within the Tower.

“So why are you so interested in this new vigilante?” Clint asked as they stopped at her door.

Darcy grinned. “So he’s a vigilante now?” she asked with a laugh, only joking. “I just think he might be good for the team. You’re all such different people, and you have a lot to learn about tolerance towards one another. Maybe this guy could help.”

“Oh come on, we’re not nearly as bad as we used to be,” Clint objected.

“No, you’re not,” Darcy confirmed. “But like I said, there’s room to grow. There’s always room to grow.” She looked up at the archer, a small smile appearing.

Clint smiled back, neither saying anything for a moment. “I should probably go now,” he finally whispered. He moved to leave, but Darcy took his hand.

“You should… probably stay now,” she replied, pulling his body back to hers. Clint followed her lead, leaning down to place his lips on her own. Slowly, they pulled back, only for Clint to lean in and kiss her again.

Clint pushed her up against the wall, his arms wrapping around Darcy’s waist as he kicked at the door to shut it. He bit down on her lower lip, causing her to moan and give him access to her mouth.

The rest of the night was a flurry of clothes being shed and words being whispered as they had sex, both far too obsessed with each other’s bodies to think about anything else.

* * *

 

Clint woke up to hear voices in the adjacent room.

“So you will make love to him but refuse me?” one voice asked, and Clint furrowed his eyebrows. He knew that voice. He just couldn’t place it.

“No- yes- shut up!” the other voice replied angrily. That voice Clint recognized with ease. It was Darcy’s, and she was not happy about something. “I just want to make sure everyone’s okay with you before we go any further.”

A laugh escaped from the other voice. “You are such a hypocrite,” the voice hissed. “You claim to want to bring peace between me and them, but you have done nothing but put yourself in situations that may make any potential interactions uncomfortable for everyone involved.”

Clint pulled on his boxers and left the room, jerking back when he saw Loki with Darcy. “What’s going on?” he demanded as the duo turned to face him.

Darcy swallowed hard, walking up to Clint. “I…” She sighed, looking away from the man briefly. “Loki is one of my soulmates,” she confessed. “He came to me about a week ago. He’s the new vigilante.” She took in a deep breath and let it out. “Clint, I know you have a problem with him and all, but-”

“He’s your soulmate,” Clint declared, nodding. “I won’t tell anyone as long as he doesn’t cause any trouble.”

“Thank you,” Darcy replied, a small smile working its way across her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, let's get #AgentCarter trending.


	7. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy gets a call and Thor and Natasha get annoyed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, 100 bookmarks? Thank you guys so much! I was going to post this chapter tomorrow or the day after, but 100 bookmarks is just... wow.

Darcy visibly winced when her phone began playing “The Imperial March.” She whimpered a little as she reached out to pick it up, the other people in the common room (Thor and Natasha) giving her concerned looks.

“Hi, Aunt Mary,” she said into the device, a forced smile on her face. “How are you?”

Thor was admittedly not the best at picking up on body language, but even he could tell Darcy looked like she wanted to jump out the window. He gave Natasha a confused, worried look, hoping she knew something he didn’t.

Natasha only shrugged. “Later,” she whispered. While there was the issue of Thor and his brother, very few Asgardian families had dysfunction like Earth families.

“Yeah, yeah I am living in New York,” Darcy declared in response to something her aunt said. “It’s uh… it’s a nice place. I mean, it’s no Stark Tower, but…” She furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips as she realized what she just said. “Yeah, I’m still with Jane and Erik… no, I haven’t pissed them off enough to leave me yet.”

She was rapidly going from uncomfortable to irate. “In fact, I found a few more of my soulmates,” she declared, straightening her back as though her aunt could see her. Anything to feel more confident. “Yeah, I’m living with them…” Her eyes grew wide during the next pause.

“Would they like to come for dinner Saturday night?” she echoed, giving Natasha and Thor a look that just screamed _help me_. Thor nodded eagerly, but Natasha gave him a quick kick in the thigh, making a slashing motion across her throat. “I’m not sure, they’re really busy—and you won’t take no for an answer. Okay then… I guess we’ll be there. Send my love to Uncle Hyde and the kids. Bye.”

Darcy hung up the phone and stared at it in horror. “What have I done?” she asked herself. She looked up at Thor and Natasha. “I’m going to die on Saturday, and two of you are going to be there when it happens.”

Natasha reached out and put a hand on Darcy’s. Her fingers were cold but comforting all the same. “Don’t worry, Darcy, I’ll be there,” she promised. “I’d like to see someone treat you like crap with me around.”

Thor still looked confused. “I don’t understand,” he confessed. “What is so bad about having supper with your family?”

“It’s not that big of a deal if it’s my close family, like just my parents and sister and her husband and kids, but this is my aunt and her family,” Darcy explained. “I’ve always been the black sheep because of my marks and a million other reasons, and they are just incredibly rude about it. They live just outside of the city, and now they want me and two of my newfound soulmates to come and spend an entire evening with them.”

Thor nodded, now grasping the situation to some extent. “Why would they be so callous to you?” Thor asked. “Family is supposed to support one another.”

Darcy shrugged. “Beats me,” she replied, a dejected look on her face. “People act the way they act for a number of reasons. You can never really be sure what those reasons are.”

“I will go with you as well,” Thor promised. “No one has the right to upset you.”

A grin made its way across Darcy’s face. “Thanks, guys,” she sighed. “It’ll make me feel a lot better with you there.”

* * *

 

Saturday night, Darcy walked out into the common room in dark blue jeans and a conservative wine-colored sweater. “How do I look?” she asked nervously. She was usually better with being confident, or at least feigning confidence, but things were different with family.

“You look magnificent,” Thor assured her. “I have no doubt that when they see you, your family will see the error of their ways.”

Darcy smiled faintly. “Thanks,” she replied, tugging at the hem of her sweater like a child.

Natasha reached out, placing a hand on Darcy’s shoulder. She wasn’t the best at physical contact, but she knew Darcy loved it, craved it. “Everything will be fine,” she promised. “Nothing’s going to happen.

Darcy flinched. “That’s what someone always says before everything happens. And everything is never good.”

“This isn’t some scifi movie,” Natasha assured her. “We will go to your aunt’s house, have a lovely dinner, and then come back here with minimal damage.”

“Alright,” Darcy agreed. “Just… don’t be surprised if things get… awkward.”

Natasha laughed a little. “Darcy, I’m a trained killer and Thor is a prince from another planet. We’ve already made it more awkward than they ever could.”

* * *

 

No sooner than the trio turned onto the street did Natasha realize she was wrong. A ball was thrown—yes, thrown—out into the middle of the road, a boy about age ten chasing after it. Darcy slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid hitting the child, and he turned to give her a cheeky grin before taking the ball back to the yard.

Thor’s jaw had dropped wide open. “Did… did he do that intentionally?” he asked.

Darcy nodded. “Every time I try to drive,” she confirmed as she pulled over to the curb and turned off the car. “Big words for a minute here.”

As they got out of the car, Darcy began to speak again. “The quandary with this accretion of my genealogy is that they postulate they are entitled to the comprehensive world, when even the Asgardian consort here is capable of prudery.”

The little boy rolled his eyes as he approached the trio. “Why do you use so many big words?” he asked. “It’s boring and stupid and no one can understand you.”

“The quandary is within my realm of perception,” Natasha declared, causing the young boy to roll his eyes again.

Thor nodded. “It can often be laborious to endure the company of such sanctimonious hordes,” he agreed.

At that point, a woman in her forties came out of the house, giving Darcy a hug. The brunette stiffened slightly against her aunt but hugged her back all the same. “Oh, Darcy, it’s so good to see you!”

Darcy forced a smile—one that had clearly been practiced time and time again each time she met her aunt. “It’s good to see you, too, Aunt Mary,” she greeted the woman. She pulled out of the hug to introduce her soulmates. “These are Natasha and Thor.” She gestured to each hero.

A younger girl, just barely in her teens but the same height as Darcy, ran out of the house, finishing tying an elastic hairband at the end of her blonde braid. “Hi,” she greeted the strangers. It took her a second, but she caught on. “Aren’t you two Avengers?”

Thor smiled while Natasha nodded. “We are,” she confirmed. “I’m—”

“Natasha, ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and assassin,” the girl cut her off. “And you’re Thor, Norse god of thunder and fertility. I’m Cassie.”

Darcy winced at her cousin’s excitable, know-it-all nature. “Why don’t we get inside?” she suggested. “It’s a little nippy out here.”

Despite it not being a hint, Thor moved to wrap one arm around Darcy to keep her warm and show off a little to her family.

Supper was… uncomfortable at best. Mary and Hyde were constantly giving their children compliments, Cassie was soaking it up, Aaron, the boy, was openly insulting Darcy about her looks, her job, and her attitude, Mary and Hyde were doing nothing to stop him while giving Darcy backhanded compliments, and Thor and Natasha were struggling not to tell everyone off.

After dinner, Mary grinned at Darcy, a fake grin that she didn’t even try at. “Why don’t you three kids go outside and let the adults talk?” she asked in a kindergarten-teacher voice. That was the least of her insults that night.

“Sure…” Darcy replied hesitantly, her surprisingly good fake smile faltering. She scooted her chair back and followed her cousins who had already run out the door.

Darcy wasn’t entirely sure what happened in the house, but within ten minutes, she was back in her car with a fuming Natasha and Thor.

“Your cousins are lucky they didn’t become orphans tonight,” Natasha grumbled.

“At least your uncle was kind enough not to act as rudely as your aunt,” Thor agreed.

Darcy nodded as she got onto the highway. “Yep,” she sighed. “Aunt Mary keeps Uncle Hyde’s balls in her fanny pack. He’d never say a thing against her or the kids.”

Natasha pursed her lips and looked out the window. “Apathy towards a situation is just as bad as being the perpetrator.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, Darcy's family is based off mine. I got so mad while writing this that I had to cut it short and not include the "discussion" Thor and Natasha had with Mary and Hyde. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the family awkwardness. There'll be more in the Thanksgiving chapter.


	8. How to Deal with a Grumpy Soulmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the response to that last chapter, I'm forming a club of people on ao3 with shit families.

Darcy was grumpy, and that meant watching movies like _13 Going on 30_ , _A Walk to Remember_ , _The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants_ , and basically anything with Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes in it before they lost it. At the moment, she was starting _The Prince and Me_.

“You look…” Tony couldn’t quite come up with the right word as he walked into the common room.

“Grumpy,” Darcy supplemented. “The word you’re looking for is grumpy.”

Tony approached the girl and moved her so he could sit down, her back resting on his chest as they splayed themselves out across the couch. “Why are you grumpy?” he asked, placing his hands over hers and intertwining their fingers.

Darcy turned her head to look up at him. “My parents want to come over for Thanksgiving… and so do my sister, her husband, their kids, my grandma, my aunt and uncle, their kids, my other aunt and uncle, their kid, and that kid’s girlfriend.” She let her head fall back on Tony’s chest. It was a good thing he’d gotten the shrapnel removed and no longer had the arc reactor in his chest, or that would have really hurt.

“I take it one of those sets of aunts and uncles are the ones that had you so worried the other night?” Tony checked, receiving a nod.

“I love them and everything, but… they can be bad,” she confessed. “They aren’t always so rude, and I cherish those moments, but other times…” She let her voice trail off.

Tony nodded in understanding. There were days when he absolutely hated his father… and then he remembered the good times they had despite the bad. He briefly turned his attention to the movie. “If you ever run off like Paige Morgan did, we’ll hunt you down,” he declared, not sounding threatening but concerned instead.

Darcy cracked a smile. “I’m counting on it,” she assured him, turning his head to kiss him. She pulled back for a second. “You know the plot of _The Prince and Me_?”

“It’s a good movie,” Tony replied defensively before putting his lips back to Darcy’s.

A little noise between a whimper and a mewl escaped Darcy’s throat, and Tony grinned against her lips. He knew from what Darcy told him that she had very little sexual experience, as whenever she tried to get a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past, they had been turned off by the fact that she had so many marks. She even admitted that Clint was the first person she’d ever actually had sex with.

Tony felt like he should have been jealous, but no such emotion passed through him at any point thus far in their relationship. Each of them had their relationship at a different pace, from those who hadn’t even kissed her yet to those who were… well, like Tony and Clint. Clint was her first, and Tony was pretty sure he was going to be her second.

Slowly, Tony unwrapped one of his hands from hers and let it slide down to unbutton her jeans. As he got to work on the zipper, Darcy bucked against his hand, encouraging Tony further.

Darcy shifted like she was going to turn so she was chest to chest with Tony, but he moved his free arm across her hips to keep her in place. Darcy let him without complaint. Her hands now free, she moved them up to reach behind Tony’s neck.

“Tony,” Darcy whimpered as the man moved his lips down her jaw and to her neck. He worked his hand into her jeans, moving slowly so she could stop him at any time if she wanted.

Confident that Darcy was willing, Tony brushed his thumb over her clit. Darcy cried out, bucking her hips against him again.

Briefly, Tony removed his lips from her neck, instead moving to her ear. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “Especially when you make all that noise.” He moved his thumb in a circle over her clit, causing her to moan. He continued his ministrations for a moment, his tongue laving over her neck and then blowing on the damp flesh, eliciting another whimper from Darcy.

Tony moved his hand over her slit, feeling how wet she was through her panties. Tony wasted no time in pushing them aside and gently inserting a finger. Darcy tightened around him on reflex and let out a moan. Slowly, he moved his finger away, but not all the way out before sliding back in, going at a steady pace as Darcy adjusted to him, growing content with his finger. At that point, he let his index finger be joined by his middle.

Darcy whimpered, clutching at the couch, his pants, the back of his neck, his shirt—anything she could get her hands on. She could feel his rock hard length pressing into the base of her spine. She longed to touch it, to touch him, but their position allowed her no room.

Tony’s fingers began to move faster inside her, and he briefly contemplated putting in a third finger before deciding that was too much for her at the moment. Instead, he played with her clit, moving around it in circles and pressing down on it. He repeated the action a few times until he felt Darcy tightening around his fingers again, much harder than she had before.

The brunette cried out and threw her head back as she came, her hips lifting off the couch as much as she could get them. Tony continued to pump his fingers inside her until she came down from her high, and only then did he remove his them, letting Darcy watch as he lifted the digits to his mouth and sucked her juices off them.

A tired grin passed over Darcy’s lips, and she slowly turned herself so she was straddling Tony’s hips. When Tony removed his fingers from his mouth, she leaned in, kissing him and getting a taste of herself in the process. She moved her hands down to her jeans and wriggled her way out of them and her panties. Thank God she wore a boot cut instead of skinny jeans today.

Tony moved his hands up under Darcy’s shirt, ridding her of it in a second. His mouth moved to the tops of her breasts, kissing down one until he got to her heart then kissing up the other. He felt Darcy’s ragged breathing as she moaned, her hands fumbling with his belt. She finally got it off and made quick work of the clasp and zipper on his pants. Tony lifted his hips, allowing her to pull his pants and boxers down as well as rubbing his cock against her.

Darcy whimpered at the contact, bending forward to rest her head on Tony’s shoulder for a moment.

Tony remembered this was only her second time having sex, and he twisted his head to look at the panting brunette. “Do you need to stop?” he asked.

Instantly, Darcy shook her head, lifting herself up and making quick work of the buttons on Tony’s shirt despite her shaking hands. She slowly moved her body against Tony’s, his dick running up and down her soaked opening. He let her work at her own pace, taking the time to remove her bra and close his mouth around one breast.

Darcy cried out, finally taking him in her hand and lining them up so she could slide down onto him. They were frozen like that for a moment, Tony pulling away from her chest to look into her eyes, his hands resting on her waist while hers were on either side of Tony’s chest, bracing herself on the couch.

Finally, Darcy moved her body away, only to thrust back down onto Tony, moaning as she did. She moved at an agonizingly slow pace for a minute before speeding up, riding Tony as she tightened around his cock.

Tony kept his hands on her waist, bucking his hips up and helping her move. She was already so close to coming, Tony knew, but he wasn’t quite finished just yet.

Feeling Darcy’s muscles spasm around him, Tony flipped them so he was on top and continued thrusting into her through her orgasm. Darcy moaned and cried out as Tony moved at a steady, rapid pace, making her swollen cunt beg for more.

The third time Darcy came was the first time for Tony that session, though both were content and sated.

Tony changed their position on the sofa again so Darcy was on top and Tony wouldn’t crush her. As they came down from their high, Tony noticed something in his peripheral vision, and he lifted his head to see Bruce staring at them, a little smile on his face.

How long he had been watching, Tony wasn’t sure, but he settled for grinning at the scientist.


	9. And Somehow Schindler's List is Involved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Darcy have a little chat. Then Darcy and Fury have a little chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time, but Darcy's meeting some more of her peeps soon.

Clint and Darcy hadn’t spoken in… two weeks? Maybe three? However long it had been since he found out about Loki. He wanted Darcy to be happy, yes… but he was also royally pissed off. Loki had cost people their lives, cost Selvig his mind, and very nearly cost Clint both.

So he kept his distance. He avoided both Darcy and Loki while he tried to cool down, but every time he would relax, he would get riled up again. The joys of being an assassin—your brain was always on. He would hide out in his room or up in the air ducts and read or play stupid Trivia Crack in an attempt to distract himself, but he always came back to his frustration.

Darcy finally managed to catch him in the kitchen. She was baking brownies, and he was looking for some juice. Clint took one look at the brunette and turned around to leave. Smooth.

When he felt a hand around his wrist, Clint stopped and turned back to face Darcy. “What?” he asked, his voice not quite at a whisper.

“We need to talk,” Darcy declared. “It’s obvious that you’re not happy about—”

“It’s fine,” Clint cut her off. He pulled his hand away and tried to leave again, but Darcy cut in front of him.

The intern crossed her arms and stared up at Clint. “I know what he did, Clint,” she told him. “And it’s not okay what he did to this city, to this realm, to you. But the important thing is that he’s trying to make up for it. I… I want you to talk to him. He wants to apologize if you’ll just give him a chance.”

Clint sighed. He didn’t want to give Loki a chance, but he loved Darcy. For her, he could compromise. “Fine,” he agreed. “But if he tries anything—anything at all—”

“I know,” Darcy replied. “And you’d have to get in line behind me.” She got on her toes and pressed a gentle kiss to Clint’s lips. “Thank you.”

Darcy fully intended to hide out in the hall and listen to Clint and Loki’s discussion, but JARVIS spoke up. “Miss Lewis, Nicholas Fury is requesting your presence. You will find him in subbasement three.”

The brunette raised an eyebrow. “Subbasement three,” she muttered. Why that man was hiding out in the Tower’s underground instead of coming out to greet people, she would never know. She marched to the elevator and pressed the proper button, placing her hand on a screen to allow her access. The elevator shot down, and when the doors opened less than a minute later, she walked out to see Fury sitting at a table.

“Whassup, Fury?” she asked, sitting down across the table from the former director.

The man groaned and buried his head in his hand. “This just got harder,” he muttered to himself before straightening up and glaring at Darcy. “What is up is that your team is being uncooperative,” he declared angrily.

A little laugh escaped Darcy. “I’ve always wondered what kind of team this soulmate would be referring to,” she confessed. “What aren’t they cooperating on?”

“Each other,” Fury explained. “Stark has taken to photographing all the food Rogers makes, and Rogers is upset because they’re his mother’s recipes.”

Darcy flat out snorted at that. “You want me to talk to them about it,” she realized. “Give me a day and Tony won’t be taking any more pictures.”

“You think you can solve it in a day?” Fury asked, his voice filled with doubt.

“No,” Darcy replied, shaking her head. “I think these can solve it in a day.” She gestured to her breasts. “I could do it in two days, but this is faster. It’s the little things that put them on the brink of war with each other and what can I say? Sex is very calming.”

As Darcy got up to leave the basement, Fury spoke up, “Remind me to call you whenever the team’s being a bunch of pills.”

Darcy spun around and grinned at the director, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Day or night,” she assured him. “Is there anything else you need? Maybe a sun lamp?”

Fury only smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be coming up for air in a week or two,” he promised. “I just need to track down Barnes since he might still be in the mood to kill me.”

That made Darcy pause and walk back up to the table. “You think you’ve almost found him?”

“I’ve got a good lead,” he confirmed. “Just don’t tell Steve or he’ll do something stupid.”

The brunette laughed a little and nodded. “Understood,” she agreed. “Now, I need to go get Steve and Tony under control. And get my brownies out of the oven or they’ll burn.”

Darcy headed back upstairs, and when she entered the common room, she was greeted with the sight of Loki and Clint crying while watching _Schindler’s List_. She opened her mouth to say something before shaking her head.

“I don’t even want to know,” she decided, heading into the kitchen and putting on her oven mitts so she could get the brownies out of the oven.


	10. Valentine's Day Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tasertricks smut. Tasertricks smut everywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously the story itself doesn't take place on Valentine's Day, but I thought you all might like this as a treat.

It took the team some time to warm up to Loki, but the fact that Darcy felt safe around him put them all at ease. Darcy’s tactile nature with her soulmates actually made it easier for all of them to touch Loki by extension. It was less than a week before hands jerking away at accidental touches turned to casually patting each other on the back when one told a good joke and calmly passing dishes between them.

You’d better believe Darcy was happy about it.

The team also noticed that their mutual soulmate’s confidence was growing. She only wore sweaters when she was cold now (which was becoming more common as they entered the autumn months), and she would wander about the Tower in her PJs more often. She even joined the team on public outings, though she wasn’t quite ready for the world to know all about her just yet. She was just starting to become more comfortable with herself; the last thing she needed was some trashy gossip magazine calling her a slut or the Avengers’ plaything.

In order to keep her identity under wraps, the team often went out to dinner at small restaurants with respectable owners who knew their silence would be rewarded by more visits from the ever-growing group. Another option Darcy was fond of was brief dates with just one or two people.

One of those dates involved Loki taking her to a little shop that made the best ice cream sandwiches Darcy ever had. While Darcy was fond of the ones with red velvet cookies and cream cheese ice cream, Loki had a tendency to get ones with double chocolate chip cookies and espresso ice cream.

When they got back to the Tower, Darcy kissed her lover, reveling in the bitter taste the espresso ice cream left in his mouth. She let out a little hum as she pulled away. “We are definitely going there more often,” she decided.

“You’re just saying that because I taste like coffee,” Loki called her out.

“It was really good ice cream,” Darcy insisted, only for Loki to wrap his arms around her and pull her in close.

“It was,” he agreed, “though I think you taste better.” He leaned down, kissing her again and letting his hands wander down to her ass.

Darcy let out a little squeak at the contact and jerked forward, forcing her body to grind against Loki’s. The god of mischief hummed, keeping his hands in place and trapping Darcy where she stood. “Would you like to take this to the bedroom?” he purred, earning an eager nod from Darcy.

In an instant, the two were in Darcy’s bedroom, completely naked. The brunette gasped at the feel of Loki’s skin suddenly being on hers, and she looked up at her lover. “I like this trick,” she whispered. “I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”

Loki chuckled and pushed Darcy down on the bed before crawling on top of her. “That is the least of my tricks,” he told her. “Would you like to see another?”

Darcy nodded mutely, and Loki closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, a double appearing in the bed next to Darcy. The original Loki leaned down to whisper in his lover’s ear. “Get on top of him.” He pulled back, allowing Darcy to straddle the copy.

The original gently placed a hand on the back of Darcy’s head and pushed her forward to kiss the copy. Clearly, Loki had a control kink, and Darcy loved it. Slowly, Loki slid his hand down the brunette’s spine and pushed on her ass, causing her to rub against the copy’s dick.

Darcy let out a little whimper from want, but she was enjoying this too much to act. The copy’s thumb ran over her clit, and Darcy moaned. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked against the hand, making both Lokis smile.

“You’re already so wet,” the copy murmured, his hand wandering over her mound. “Maybe I should give you some reprieve.”

“Please,” Darcy whispered, nodding furiously.

The original Loki put his hands on Darcy’s hips, pushing her forward and rubbing her against the copy once more. “I do so enjoy hearing you beg,” he growled in her ear. “Do it again.”

Darcy whimpered, desperate for some relief. “Please,” she begged, her voice revealing that want. “Please, just fuck me already. I need this. I need you.”

The original Loki grinned. “Do you want both of us, love?” he asked, moving his hand so his thumb circled her asshole. It was quite possibly the best feeling in the world.

Darcy cried out and nodded. “Yes, yes, please!”

Loki pulled his hands away from her, the copy doing the same and making Darcy whine. “Don’t fret, love,” the original told her. “I’m just getting lubricant. I don’t think that ass of yours could stand up to me without it.”

The copy moved his hands to Darcy’s hips, lining them up and waiting for the original’s signal. After what seemed like forever (but was only a few seconds), Darcy felt the original Loki put his tip in her ass. She let out a little mewl, desperate for more.

Not wasting any more time, Loki shoved himself into her, forcing Darcy down onto the copy’s cock. The woman let out a cry, grabbing the sheets so hard her knuckles turned white. She felt completely full, and she wondered just how either Loki managed to fit. That thought was soon banished as the Lokis thrust into her again, setting a rapid pace Darcy fought to keep up with.

“Harder,” she begged. “Faster.”

The two were happy to oblige, following both commands until Darcy was screaming. The copy grabbed her and pulled her in, silencing her with a kiss as she came, the men following shortly after.

Slowly, Loki disentangled himself from Darcy and his copy, pulling Darcy over to him so she wouldn’t fall when the copy vanished. The brunette was panting as she lay down against Loki, planting soft kisses on his chest. After a moment, she spoke, her breath still ragged and breaking her sentence apart into pieces. “We… are definitely… doing that again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS, the ice cream place is real. It's called Melt Bakery and it's amazing.


	11. Hulk Buy Furniture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy gets an email, the Hulk gets angry, and Pepper, Darcy, and Bruce are the only adults in the Tower.

For Darcy, it started when she got an email from an unknown source. There wasn’t a name or even an email address attached to the message. Of course, working in a top secret world, Darcy opened the email and its attachments. The first showed a girl maybe a year older than herself with a small smile on her face, like she was trying not to get excited while taking the photo.

_Name: Skye (no surname)_  
 _Occupation: S.H.I.E.L.D. agent level one  
_ _Skills: Hacking, firearms, hand-to-hand combat_

Darcy read on through the file until she got to the section labeled Other Notes.

_Skye was recently exposed to a mist that caused her to gain the power to cause the earth to shift. She does not have much control over this power, and the loss of fellow agent Antoine Triplett has caused her to be upset and heightened her powers. After an attempt at helping her, Skye ran away and is currently believed to be in New York City._

Darcy wasn’t a fool. She knew this was sent to her for a reason and not one of the team. It looked like she was going on a scavenger hunt.

_Crash!_

Unfortunately, that scavenger hunt would have to wait.

Darcy left her room and headed out to the common area to see that the glass coffee table was broken. The Hulk was glaring at the TV, and Tony was hiding behind the sofa. Darcy approached the green man and turned to look at the screen just in time to see Hans leaving Anna to die.

“Bad man hurt princess,” the Hulk explained with a pout. He flopped down on the sofa, crossing his arms just as the sofa gave way and broke. The Hulk didn’t seem to notice.

Darcy shot a glare at Tony who gave her an ‘I didn’t mean to’ look.

Slowly, Darcy sat down next to the Hulk, cuddling up next to him. He reacted by wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in closer.

After the movie and Bruce’s de-Hulking, Darcy dragged the team out to IKEA. She would have said it was fun, but then she’d be lying. Tony was looking at the gadgets, Natasha was working out a strategy as to how they would escape if something happened, Jane and Erik were obsessing over the mini kitchen sets (“But Darcy, then we’d never have to leave the lab!” “Exactly.”), Thor and Steve were at the food court holding a contest to see who could eat the most Swedish meatballs (a thin teenage girl who didn’t even realize she was in the competition was winning), and Clint and Loki were nowhere to be found. That left Darcy, Pepper, and Bruce to do the shopping.

“Shouldn’t we be searching for Clint and Loki?” Bruce asked anxiously. Both were mischievous little rascals with a tendency to prank the other Avengers mercilessly.

“As long as we don’t hear anything, they’re fine,” Darcy insisted. “When we start hearing things, well… then there’s a problem.”

The trio wandered around the living room section, trying to figure out what was needed. It was well known that Darcy didn’t take up much space—or, rather, she sat on someone else’s lap or curled up next to them—so she didn’t particularly care about size so much as comfort. Jane was similar in this manner, but she also liked to push herself into the corner, so an L or U shaped sofa was a must. Erik preferred to sit in a chair because of his back, so he didn’t particularly care about the sofa at all. Thor and Steve’s absurdly large shoulders meant the sofa had to be big, Clint had a tendency to stretch out, and Pepper just wanted an ottoman to rest her feet at the end of the day. Neither Bruce nor Loki took up much room (unless the former was in Hulk form), and Tony said he didn’t care as long as it was red.

Ultimately, the trio settled on a dark gray, U-shaped sofa, a matching ottoman, a couple of side tables on wheels, and a long coffee table that matched the side tables. They were just getting to the checkout line when Clint, Loki, and Tony came running up to them, ash and soot covering their faces.

Pepper took a moment to look at them before shaking her head. “I don’t want to know,” she decided. “Have you seen Natasha, Steve, Thor, Jane, or Erik?”

“Nope!”

“Haven’t seen ‘em!”

“Their whereabouts are a mystery!”

Darcy and Bruce looked absolutely horrified at the instant denial. “Where are they?” Pepper asked calmly. “I know you three at least know where Thor and Steve are.”

“They may or may not have been given a spicy batch of Swedish meatballs.”

“Tony!” Pepper snapped, hitting the man lightly in the chest. “Do you at least know where Nat, Jane, and Erik are?”

Clint shrugged. “Not sure about Jane and Erik, but Natasha’s been back at the Tower for thirty minutes,” he explained.

Darcy sighed. “Knowing Jane and Erik, they’re probably in the office section. I’ll go get them.” The brunette trudged off, passing by Steve and Thor who were guzzling a gallon of milk each. She’d been living in the Tower for over six months now, and she was still scientist wrangling.

She loved it.


	12. Skye Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy tracks down Skye.

Most of Skye’s marks—Coulson’s team’s marks—were there when she was born, but one had showed up when she was about a year old. Somehow, the youngest one’s words soothed her. “No, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to help you. –DL” was on the bottom of her right foot. Someone was going to be there for her, even when the state royally screwed her over. As it turned out, it was really S.H.I.E.L.D. protecting her, but that didn’t stop the hurt.

Getting powers just made everything worse. She had no control, no semblance of normalcy. And that was why she left the team without a word. They would have tried to stop her, she would have gotten upset, and boom- crater in the playhouse.

She was cowering in an alleyway, such a difference from the brave warrior she had been weeks ago. Then again, she hadn’t seen one of her closest friends die weeks ago. HYDRA she could deal with. Herself? Not so much.

“Please, just stay away from me!” she had begged the brunette approaching her.

The young woman shook her head. “No, I’m not going to do that,” she assured Skye. “I’m going to help you.”

Skye looked up at the woman, eyes a bit lighter than they had been seconds ago. “You… you said-”

The woman got down on her knees in front of Skye. “My name is Darcy Lewis; I’m with the Avengers and I know about your powers. I want to keep you safe and stop you from hurting yourself.” She paused, offering Skye a hand.

Hesitantly, Skye accepted it. Once the two were on their feet, Skye wrapped her arms around Darcy. “Thank you,” she whispered. “But what if I hurt someone else?”

“I won’t let that happen,” Darcy promised. “Part of my expertise is helping people who are struggling with something in life, whether it be their job or their family or even their superpowers. You’re safe with me.”

Skye grinned a little. It wasn’t a full smile, but it was something. “Well, I know I have to be safe with my soulmate,” she confessed.

The two headed back to the Tower, and Darcy got Skye seated on the couch, throwing a blanket over her body. Darcy left to go get Skye some water, and Tony wandered into the common room in her absence.

The man stopped in his tracks, giving Skye a confused look. “I don’t know you,” he declared simply. “Who are you?”

“Skye,” she introduced herself. “I’m uh… a friend of Darcy’s.”

Tony nodded and sat down on the sofa, keeping a comfortable distance from her. “You just a friend of Darcy’s or one of her soulmates?” he asked.

“Soulmate,” Skye confessed. “I… just met her.”

The man grinned at her. “Don’t tell me you spilled coffee on her or something cliché like that,” he begged with a little laugh.

Skye shook her head. “No, nothing that simplistic,” she declared. “She, uh… offered to help me.”

Tony fought back a laugh. “Yep, that’s Lewis for ya,” he replied. “What do you need help with?”

“Um…”

At that moment, Darcy walked in, handing Skye a glass of water and planting a kiss on her cheek. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to,” she whispered.

Skye nodded and took a sip of her water. “They’ll find out eventually,” she decided. Turning to Tony, she explained, “I kind of got a superpower recently thanks to some alien stuff. I can make the Earth move.”

Tony grinned. “Well, welcome to the home of people who can do some really weird shit,” Tony replied. “You’ll fit right in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but I'm just feeling really low today. Some love would definitely make me feel better.


	13. Agents of I Swear if You're HYDRA I'll Kill You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson lives and Darcy makes empty threats she knows she is completely incapable of following through on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your kind words, guys. It really helped me feel better. :)

The next day, Darcy took every turn she could while going to get lunch. A blonde woman followed every single move she made, even when she went in a giant circle. Pursing her lips in frustration, Darcy spun around and walked up to the woman. “Look, I’m not an idiot; I know when I’m being tailed,” she declared firmly. “Who sent you?”

The blonde woman hesitated, a little surprised by Darcy’s words. “Coulson did,” she explained. “I’m Bobbi Morse.”

Darcy took a small step back. “Coulson’s dead,” she shot back. “Soulmate or not, if you’re HYDRA, I’ll kill you.” Like she stood a chance against a HYDRA agent.

“He’s alive,” Bobbi insisted. “He said you’re one of his soulmates. There was a time where my mark for him turned into an outline, but it came back. I’m guessing the same happened to you because he came back. There was a formula that revived him.”

The brunette gave Bobbi a strange look, trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “Where is he?” she asked. “I want to see him.”

Bobbi sighed. “Well, since you figured out I was your tail, we might as well,” she agreed. “There’s a car around the corner waiting for me.” She walked past Darcy, trusting her to follow and though hesitant, Darcy did exactly that.

When they got into the back of the SUV, an Asian woman spared her a glance in the rearview mirror. “So Coulson says you’re the one with the heart.” It sounded like it should have been worded as a question, but it clearly wasn’t.

“I… suppose I am,” Darcy agreed. A thought hit her. “Is this about Skye?”

“Somewhat,” the elder woman confirmed as she pulled out of the alley. “We want to know if you found her.”

Darcy nodded. “She’s safe,” she promised. “Scared, but safe. Bruce is taking care of her.” She paused. “Coulson is really alive?”

“He is.”

“…Can I at least know my new soulmate’s name?”

The woman smiled a tiny bit. “Melinda May,” she introduced herself.

* * *

 

When the trio arrived at the Playground, Darcy was marched right to Coulson’s office by Bobbi. “Can I… talk to him alone?” she asked, a hand on the doorknob.

Bobbi nodded. “Sure,” she agreed. She gently pat Darcy’s shoulder to reassured her.

Darcy walked into the room to see Coulson working at a desk. The man looked up at the sound of the door being closed, and he grinned to see Darcy. “Hi,” he greeted her almost shyly, getting to his feet and walking out from behind the desk.

Before he knew it, he was being tackled by Darcy, her lips landing on his. The kiss was brief but passionate, and when Darcy pulled away, Coulson was breathless. “Wow,” he whispered. “You have definitely changed since I last saw you.”

“Good change or bad change?” Darcy asked, her hands still resting on his chest.

“Definitely good,” Coulson assured her. “I take it you noticed Bobbi?”

Darcy nodded. “I’ve gotten better at telling when I have a tail,” she declared. “I’ve actually gotten better at a lot of things.” She let out a heavy breath and let her head rest on Coulson’s shoulder. “I can’t believe I’ve found most of you in less than a year and even got you back.”

Coulson rubbed Darcy’s back, loving the feel of her in his arms. “Well I don’t plan on dying again any time soon,” he replied. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Good.”


	14. A Wild Bucky Appears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally just the chapter title.

Darcy favorite place to eat was this tiny little diner in Brooklyn that Steve had introduced her to. He said he used to go there all the time with Bucky, but they’d remodeled more than a few times. Despite this fact, it still looked like it was from the 50s. It was there that she noticed a man at the booth in front of hers. There were tear stains on his cheeks, and he was staring glumly into his coffee.

Darcy being Darcy hopped out of her both and settled in across the table from him. “Hey…” she greeted him slowly, reaching out towards his hand. “Are you okay, man?” Her hand came to rest on his. It was cold and smooth. It was metal.

“My name…” he whispered. “I’ve got a name.”

The words on the back of Darcy’s neck stung as she realized that she was talking to her soulmate. “Do you know what it is?” she asked, her voice just as quiet as his.

The man nodded. “James Buchannan Barnes,” he told her. “Not Bucky… not anymore.”

“Alright, James,” she replied, not moving her hand off his metal one. “Do you know where you are?”

“Brooklyn,” he declared, “where I grew up. Where the man on the bridge grew up.”

Moving slowly so she didn’t scare Bucky, Darcy moved over to his side of the booth, keeping his hand in hers. Despite already knowing, she asked, “Who’s the man on the bridge?”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “I knew but I don’t anymore.” He paused before asking, “Are you mine?”

Darcy nodded. “Yeah, I’m yours and you’re mine,” she confirmed. “You’ve got my words somewhere on your skin.”

The Winter Soldier used his free hand, his flesh hand, to unbutton a few buttons on his shirt and reveal her words on the left side of his chest, just narrowly avoiding being cut off by the metal arm. He looked over to Darcy, staring on as she reached up, running her fingers over the words. She leaned in and kissed the words, not mentioning the touch of metal on the side of her mouth.

When she pulled away, she fixed and buttoned his shirt. “You’re gonna be okay, James,” she promised. “I’m going to take care of you.”

The two ate lunch in silence, Darcy paying using Tony’s credit card, and she ordered a box of donuts to go.

Bucky cracked a smile. “Hungry, doll?” he asked, a hint of his former self shining through. It had been happening since he pulled Steve out of the Potomac.

Darcy giggled a little and shook her head. “No, I’m bringing them back for some of my friends,” she explained. “The man on the bridge is one of them.”

Bucky stiffened.

“Do you want to meet him?”

This time, Bucky nodded. He followed Darcy’s lead when she got up and walked with her back to the Tower. After spending so long surrounded by superheroes and scientists and ex-assassins, Darcy learned to pick up on a few things. Bucky walked on Darcy’s left and even though she was leading him, he put his arm in front of hers when they held hands. Both were little things that indicated protectiveness. Her grandfather used to speak of a time when cars were much less reliable than they are now, and men put themselves on the lady’s left—the street side—so that if a car came onto the sidewalk, he could push her back and protect her.

Darcy couldn’t hold back the smile as they walked into the Tower.

Once they were up to the top floor, Darcy led Bucky into the kitchen. “Do you want anything else to eat?” she asked, receiving a small nod in response. Bucky had his head down looking almost… _embarrassed_ at the fact that he was requesting more food. Darcy gave him a donut while she went about preparing something more substantial.

Bucky watched her silently, analyzing every move she made. Nothing about her was defensive. She just moved around like it was the most normal thing in the world to be making brunch for an ex-HYDRA assassin.

“Hey, Darce, you bring home another stray?” a voice behind Bucky asked, and the man spun around, ready to fight. It was the man on the bridge.

Darcy was instantly between the two, her hands resting gently on Bucky’s chest to ground him. “James, it’s alright,” she assured him. “You wanted to meet Steve, remember?”

Bucky nodded, slowly at first and then more rapidly. He looked from Darcy to Steve. “Is he yours, too?”

“Yeah,” Darcy confirmed. “And he’s yours, too. We’ve both got your words, and you’ve got ours.”

Slowly, Bucky lifted his hand to his right ribcage, right where Steve knew his words were. “Can I kiss him?” he asked quietly. He wasn’t entirely sure why he said it, but something in the back of his head said it wasn’t uncommon for them to do so.

“If you want to and he wants you to,” Darcy replied.

“C-could you ask him for me?” Bucky whispered, looking more like a schoolboy with a crush than a soldier.

Darcy nodded and turned to Steve. “Steve, do you want to kiss James?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Steve replied, and Darcy stepped out of the way. The two men met where Darcy had been standing, their lips tentatively pressing against each other’s. The kiss was brief, but it left Bucky with a little smile on his face.

After a minute, Darcy spoke up again. “Do you boys want brunch? Or, at least brunch foods?” The answer was pretty obvious.

The trio ate brunch in the common room, Darcy and Steve remaining close to each other while Bucky distanced himself and sat in the corner of the sofa. Still, he let Darcy stretch out her legs so her feet were touching his thigh. They remained like that after they finished their meal, Bucky slowly running his flesh hand up and down one of Darcy’s calves.


	15. Of Doctors and Lemon Tarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky needs to go to the doctor but he's scared, and Darcy tries to cheer him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so much schoolwork to do... and instead I'm posting this.

~~Stark~~ Avengers Tower was teeming with doctors and scientists and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents by the evening. Darcy had called Coulson, knowing his team would be able to help in at least some way… also, she wanted to see him, May, and Bobbi again.

It was incredibly easy to sneak them in using the tunnels under the Tower (briefly, Darcy wondered if Tony had cleared those with the city) and lead them up to the miniature hospital on the thirtieth floor.

She headed up to Steve and James on the top floor before Coulson’s team took over so she could explain things to them. “Hey there,” she said, taking James’s hands in her own. “James, there are some doctors and scientists who are coming to the building to make sure you’re alright.”

James visibly winced.

“I understand that you’re worried, but they’re all working with a man I would trust with my life,” she assured him. “He’s good and he’s restarting S.H.I.E.L.D. without HYDRA’s influence. They’re just going to do some preliminary testing today to assess your injuries and get to know you. Are you okay with that?”

It took a good minute of silence before James nodded. “Might as well get it over with,” he agreed. He stood up with Darcy and Steve, following the brunette to the elevator. Once they were inside, James asked, “Who is this man? The one who’s helping?”

Darcy glanced from James to Steve then back again. “His name is Phil Coulson,” she explained, seeing Steve’s jaw drop out of the corner of her eye. “He… he had something happen to him, and in order to save his life, he had to have some of his memories erased. He knows what it’s like to have your head messed with.”

James seemed to calm down a little at that.

The elevator doors opened, and holding James and Steve’s hands, she walked over to a balding man in a suit. Steve’s jaw was still on the floor. It really was Coulson standing there, talking to a young brunette woman. The woman headed off to start setting up some equipment, and Coulson turned to see the trio.

“Hi,” he greeted them. “Darcy, Steve, good to see you again. James, it’s nice to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances.”

“You and me both,” James replied, forcing a small smile onto his face.

Steve blinked a couple of times, overcoming his speechlessness. “I thought you were…”

Coulson shrugged. “Apparently thinking someone is dead and then being wrong is a common thing around here,” he declared, and Steve couldn’t quite tell whether or not it was a joke.

It took a moment for Steve to realize Coulson was talking again. “The woman I was just with is Dr. Jemma Simmons. She’s an expert in biochemistry and medicine. She’ll just be measuring your vitals and taking a bit of blood today, nothing major.”

James nodded. “Darcy told me.”

“Alright, but you’ll need to be alone with Jemma for a minute while I debrief Steve and Darcy,” Coulson informed the man. “Can you handle that?” When James hesitated, Coulson amended, “I can speak with them one at a time.”

“Thank you,” James muttered.

While Steve and James headed over to Jemma, Coulson took Darcy over to another room. “So I take it you know what they did to him?” he asked, closing the door. May and a man Darcy didn’t recognize were already waiting in the room.

Darcy nodded. “To some extent,” she confirmed.

“You’re the one that found him?” the man asked, causing Darcy to crack a melancholy smile.

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “He looked awful. I’m Darcy, by the way. Meeting one soulmate while discussing the mental health of another. Wonderful.”

The man nodded, not really knowing what else to say. “I’m Sam Wilson,” he introduced himself. “I’m a psychiatrist with the VA; I think I can help him.”

Before Darcy could reply, Bobbi poked her head in the door. “He’s asking for you,” she declared, looking at Darcy. “He’s worrying over the needles.”

“Sorry,” she told Coulson, May, and Sam before leaving the room to follow Bobbi. She could be debriefed on the situation later; right now, she wanted to help James in any way she could.

She walked up to the soldier, taking his metal hand in her own hands—Steve was holding his right hand. “Hey there,” she greeted him. “Are you okay?”

James nodded. “Better now that you’re both here,” he replied.

Dr. Simmons smiled at Darcy. “Ah, you must be my new helper with Barnes,” she realized.

“Yeah,” Darcy confirmed. “I’m one of his soulmates, and apparently one of yours.”

Jemma nodded but didn’t say anything else on the matter. “Alright, Sergeant Barnes, I’m going to need to take your blood,” she told him. “It won’t be much, but you will feel a bit of a sting.”

James nodded. He stared on as Jemma inserted the needle into his arm. If he had looked away during the injection, he might have panicked. He watched as Jemma took one, two, three vials of blood before removing the needle and putting what looked like a cotton ball on the injection site and wrapping it in blue tape. “There,” she said when she was finished.

* * *

 

Once James was finished getting tested, the trio went back upstairs, and Darcy volunteered to make lemon tarts for them (Steve once mentioned that they were one of James’s favorites). As she walked into the kitchen, she saw three men standing around eating crackers.

She gave them a brief smile before wandering around the room, collecting the things she needed.

“Never before have I seen someone that messed up,” one of them said, and Darcy turned to look at the tall, bald, dark-skinned man in a plaid shirt.

“What’s worse is that you get used to it,” Darcy told him. She introduced herself.

The man in a leather jacket smiled at her. “So you’re the little lover girl. Pleasure to meet you.”

Darcy only rolled her eyes. “Is that what they’re calling me?” she asked, pulling a large bowl out from under the island.

“That’s what I’m calling you,” he replied.

“D-do we really get to work here?” the shortest of the group, a man with a Scottish accent, asked.

Darcy smiled and nodded. “Absolutely, it’s all part of the package,” she assured him.

The three men introduced themselves as Alphonso Mackenzie, Lance Hunter, and Leo Fitz before Mack offered to help her with whatever she was making.

“That sounds great, thanks,” she agreed. “They’re gonna be lemon bars, so grab the butter.”

Hunter laughed. “I like it here already,” he declared, getting to the fridge before Mack could.


	16. And then Some

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! This chapter refused to gel with me.

It wasn’t the first time Darcy was stuck in the lab during a Hulk Lockdown, but it was the first time she was stuck in the room _with_ the Hulk. It was an accident of course, but once the doors were locked, they were locked. There was a Hulk-proof containment room that Bruce often managed to stagger over to before he turned, but the change happened in the blink of an eye this time.

Seriously, Darcy was going to kill Tony for that explosion… provided the Hulk didn’t get to him first.

“Hey, Bruce, calm down,” Tony ordered, hands out in front of his body.

The Hulk growled at Tony, the room shaking.

Jane tried to speak next. “Bruce, everything’s okay, it’s sa—”

Another growl, this time punctuated by the Hulk slamming his fists down on the floor.

Darcy was the only other person in the room, and if she couldn’t get him to settle down, there was a good chance that she, Jane, and Tony would be seriously hurt. She took a couple of steps towards him, looking him in the eyes.

That move in and of itself seemed to catch him off guard, his hands falling to rest at his sides.

“Hulk, are you okay?” she asked quietly. She reached out, placing a hand on his. She could feel Jane and Tony’s wary eyes on her, but she blocked them out.

The giant flopped down so he was sitting, a pout on his face. “RUIN BRUCE’S WORK,” he grumbled. “HULK BREAK EVERYTHING.”

Darcy nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, Hulk,” she assured him. “You can work on this later; nothing’s ruined, just a little set back.” She moved closer, getting to her knees and sitting on her feet. “You do not break everything. I’ve seen you do a lot of good.”

The Hulk looked down at her, the pout still on his face. Dear Lord, he looked like a freaking puppy. “BRUCE DOESN’T LIKE HULK. ANGRY AT HULK.”

“That’s not true,” Darcy replied. “He knows you protect him and the rest of the world; he just still needs some adjusting. Do you want me to talk to him?”

Slowly, the Hulk nodded before shaking his head. “HULK DON’T WANT GO. WANT STAY WITH PRETTY LADY.”

Darcy smiled and laughed a little. “I understand, but you have to let Bruce come back eventually,” she declared. “Do you want me to stay with you until you turn back?”

The Hulk nodded, a grin forming on his face. “WHAT NAME?”

“Darcy,” the brunette replied, moving so she was sitting in the Hulk’s lap. “Darcy Lewis.”

That night, Darcy sat cuddled up next to Bruce, eating popcorn while watching a movie. Every inch of her body displayed calmness, from her relaxed shoulders to the tiny smile on her face to the way she would let out a little hum every now and then.

There wasn’t a damn person in that Tower that didn’t love Darcy’s hum. She sounded like a kitten purring, and all you wanted to do was get her to make that sound again. There were even little contests to see who could get Darcy to purr most in a single day without doing anything sexual. Darcy knew of this game and declared that James and Loki were tied for the lead. As it turned out, Darcy loved the cold feeling of Loki’s hands and James’s metal arm on her skin, though Natasha was the only one to figure this out so far.

A ringing phone made Darcy jump in her seat, taken completely off guard. She reached into her pocket and answered it. “Hey, Loki, where are you?” she asked.

Whatever Loki said made Darcy’s smile quickly fade, and she jumped to her feet, racing towards the elevator.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta do this alone!” she called before someone could hop into the elevator with her. And just like that, she was gone.

Where she had gone to was the tunnel system, meeting Loki carrying the scepter, two shaking young adults following behind him. “Where—why—how?” Darcy couldn’t form a full sentence.

“The scepter’s magic went wild, and I tracked it to a HYDRA base,” Loki explained. “They were using it to give these two powers and torture them.”

That earned the twins the Darcy Lewis Beaten Puppy Look™. “It’s okay,” she assured them. “I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you.”

The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, right,” he objected. HYDRA obviously knew of their marks and had even resorted to sending someone in to say their words on occasion. Wanda always called them out on it.

“She means it,” Wanda declared, dark eyes looking at Darcy in wonder. She took a step forward, placing a hand on Darcy’s cheek. “Pietro, she’s ours.”

The white-haired boy gave her a wary look, though a smile tugged at his lips.

Darcy felt Loki’s hand at the small of her back, and she looked up at him. “I suggest we move upstairs,” he offered. “It will be much more comfortable, and we can get the scepter somewhere safe.”

The brunette nodded, offering a hand to both Wanda and Pietro. The two accepted, and the four headed back to the elevator, riding it up to the top floor. While Loki and Darcy stepped out of the elevator like normal, Pietro and Wanda hesitated.

Slowly, Darcy took a step back towards them. “It’s okay,” she promised. “These are good people. They’re kind and open and loving. They will never hurt you.”

That got the twins to follow her out of the elevator and into the common room.

The immediate reaction from everyone was to stand up, eyes on the scepter. Loki raised his eyebrows, and if Darcy didn’t know better, she’d say he was embarrassed to have been the cause of such a reaction.

“I assure you, I mean no harm,” Loki promised. “I tracked this to a HYDRA base and retrieved it… as well as two new residents for the Tower.”

Pietro gave a little wave while Wanda looked around, sizing everyone up.

A knowing smile suddenly tugged at Fury’s lips. “Are they your last two?” he asked, receiving a nod from Darcy.

That put everyone at ease in an instant.


	17. The Consequences of a Lifetime of Self-Hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's feeling low, and for the first time since finding her soulmates, it gets the best of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I'll admit I've been procrastinating on posting this chapter. I wrote it back when I posted chapter 12 and was feeling incredibly depressed, but rest assured I'm feeling much better. That being said, this chapter does deal with depression and the effects it has, both on the person with depression and on their loved ones.

It wasn’t a secret that Jane and Erik had a certain connection with Darcy that no one else had, and not just because they were platonic. While most of them had only known Darcy for around six or seven months (or less), Jane and Erik had known her and been around her for years. Despite this, no one really thought about it until the night of a party that was being held in honor of Darcy finding her last two soulmates (not that the extra guests knew that).

Natasha watched as a man in a suit she didn’t recognize said something to Darcy before walking away. The look on her brunette’s face could only be described as one of hurt, and she reached out to take a champagne glass from a passing server. Before she could drink, Jane took the glass from her and passed it to another server.

Darcy looked down, shame in her eyes, and Jane put a gentle hand on Darcy’s back, leading her out of the room and into the hall. Natasha could still see them, but the hall offered some semblance of privacy.

Natasha gently squeezed Clint’s arm, drawing his attention in. “What are they saying?” she asked, nodding her head over to Jane and Darcy.

Clint’s lip reading skills went to work, and though Jane’s back was turned to them, he could easily tell what Darcy was saying. “I thought I was better, Jane, but I’m not.” The young woman burst into tears, and Jane wrapped her in a hug.

The two slowly pulled apart as Erik approached them with a glass of water and a tiny foil package. He opened the foil and pulled out a small, white tablet, and Darcy took it and drank the entire glass. She began speaking again. “I feel so stupid for having to take this. I shouldn’t need it.”

Erik began speaking next, though he was at a bit of an angle that made it hard to read his lips. “Something something… not stupid… medicine… healthy,” Clint declared.

Jane said something, and the trio walked away from the party.

Thus began the hardest week of the Tower’s residents’ lives.

Darcy didn’t leave her apartment, Jane slept in Darcy’s bed, Erik spent most of his waking hours in Darcy’s apartment, and Loki temporarily moved to the spare bedroom in Thor and Jane’s apartment. It was like someone had found an off switch to Darcy’s mother hen-ing, and it turned on Jane’s and Erik’s instead. Neither scientist set foot in the lab that week, something that had never happened before.

On day one, no one really thought anything of it. Darcy was probably just sick and wanted to be alone.

On day two, Tony noticed that Jane had JARVIS cut off Darcy’s access to the roof and balconies. He cancelled the rest of his meetings that day; he needed some time to think.

On day three, Steve went to the public library, muttering something about researching Darcy’s symptoms. He came back looking deflated and upset. Either he didn’t find anything, or he found exactly what he was looking for and didn’t like the answer. Natasha’s money was on the latter.

On day four, Erik approached Mack and asked him to help make chicken parmesan, Darcy’s favorite. Once they were done, Erik thanked him and left for Darcy’s apartment with the three plates.

On day five, Darcy tried coming out of her apartment for movie night and sat nuzzled between Erik and Jane. Her eyes were cold with bags under them, and she let out a little whimper of displeasure when Jane gave her a bowl of popcorn and a stern look. Darcy ate the popcorn, looking disgusted with it the entire time, and fell asleep before the movie was half over with her head on Erik’s chest and her legs draped over Jane’s.

On day six, no one really knew what to do. Awkward silences were broken up by brief discussions about Darcy’s mental health and random, stupid small talk. Neither Jane nor Erik left Darcy’s apartment, meaning no one got the chance to ask how Darcy was doing.

On day seven, Erik was practically ambushed after leaving Darcy’s apartment to go get lunch for the three of them. Fitz asked if Darcy was getting better, Skye asked if there was anything she could do to make Darcy feel better, and Thor… Thor was having a hard time understanding the Midgardian concept of mental illness and just wanted to make Darcy happy again. Erik only said that Darcy would come out when she was ready.

6:03 am on the eighth day, Darcy left her apartment in her pajamas, a blanket wrapped around her body. Her shoulders were slumped, her eyes dead with dark circles under them, and her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed or washed the entire week. She wandered towards the only source of noise on the floor, the communal kitchen, to see Steve making an omelet for breakfast. Darcy walked up to the man and wrapped her arms around him, and Steve gladly put his free arm around her.

The following two weeks were a slow, painful recovery process. Jane still slept in Darcy’s bed for a week, then off and on after that, Darcy still had days where she wouldn’t leave her apartment, she started going to a therapist every Tuesday and Thursday, and she had alarms set on her phone to remind her when to eat food and drink water. Jane took care of Darcy’s medications, always making sure she drank a full glass of water with them.

Darcy still took naps at inappropriate times throughout the day, and every now and then someone would walk in on her crying over what seemed to be nothing, but they still somehow knew that she was getting better. She took the time to explain the chemical imbalance in her brain and let everyone know it was nothing they had done and there was nothing any of them could do to fix it. It was a slow, painful process that she had to go through, sometimes without warning. She explained that she had good days and bad days and days where she would worry over every little thing and days where she felt like she had no purpose, and that was okay. It was a medical condition, and as long as she was still eating and taking care of herself, it was okay.

And if Darcy found out two days later that Tony had anonymously donated an exuberant amount of money for To Write Love on her Arms, that was okay, too.


	18. Recovery and Retrieval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's still working on recovery, and her family starts to arrive for Thanksgiving. Maybe for once things can just stay calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support after that last chapter, guys. You're the best. <3

Darcy was content to lie with her head in Fury’s lap as he read some book she couldn’t even remember the name of aloud. Thanksgiving was coming up, and everyone was determined to keep Darcy’s depression from getting the best of her. Was she stressing out? Absolutely. But she wasn’t close to another break either.

It took a moment, but Darcy realized that Nick had stopped talking. Had he finished the book?

The brunette opened her eyes just in time to see him setting the book down on the side table. Despite being a bit of a chatty Cathy, Darcy listened more than she spoke. She watched, taking in everything she could about a situation and the people in it.

Take Nick, for example. There was a time when he was shy about his mutilated left eye, but that was no longer the case. Still, he understood that it made some people uncomfortable and wore the eye patch. He wasn’t fond of children, but if one asked him if he was a pirate, he would play along, silly voice and all. When Darcy tried out strange Russian recipes her grandmother sent her, Nick was the one who ate them and pretended to like them, but Darcy wasn’t blind to the fact that it was always the Italian pignoli that vanished whenever he was around.

He could fall asleep almost anywhere but woke up easily, playing it off like he was only feigning sleep. He was defensive at times if he thought someone was questioning him because of his race, something that had undoubtedly happened more times than Darcy cared to think. He knew bees were important to have around but was scared of them nevertheless, and whenever he saw one, he lifted his hand to rest his fingers on his lips like he was protecting them. At one point, Darcy asked about that idiosyncrasy, and he confessed that he had been stung on the lip by a bee when he was five at the zoo.

Unless Nick was in a country where it was considered rude not to clear your plate, he always left a bite or two of everything untouched. Steve and James were the opposite in this aspect. They grew up in the time of shortage and ate every morsel they could get, even if they were full. This led to a minor incident in which Steve finished his plate in China and got the stink eye from their host.

After that, Steve took to reading etiquette books from every culture imaginable. He hated it when he upset someone without just cause, and he did everything in his power to ensure he never made a mistake like that again. Sometimes this led to Steve being a little stiff, but all it took was a nudge from someone, and he followed their lead.

James, on the other hand, had a much easier time adapting to different cultures, in part because the Winter Soldier spent time studying some of his targets over the years. There were times that Darcy could see a hint of envy in Steve’s eyes; he’d technically been in the modern world longer than James but had a harder time understanding it. Darcy would take him out to a 40s-style club to make him feel better.

And then there was the sex.

Darcy’s openness to experimentation and kinks surprised even the woman herself. She loved almost everything that was thrown at her—maybe it was a gift for having to deal with the bullying for so many years.

It had been unassuming Jemma who introduced her to the idea, confessing that she wanted to tie Darcy up, and Darcy let her. They slowly worked their way up from there to blindfolds and gags and toys and whips; Darcy loved it just as much as Jemma did.

No one else really confessed their kinks until Steve and Natasha wandered into the common room to see Jemma and Darcy sitting together on the couch, the latter with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands and angry red lines on her back (Darcy positively _loved_ the aftercare part of BDSM).

After that, she quickly learned of her soulmates’ kinks and fetishes. Bruce liked voyeurism, Loki and Wanda liked using their powers, Bobbi liked roleplay, Nick liked having sex in public, and that was only the beginning of it. One of the hardest to pin down (metaphorically) was James. There were days when he would get off on tying Darcy up and choking her, and then there were days when he was disgusted with the idea of causing her any form of harm, even if she wanted it.

“You’ve got that look on your face,” Nick’s voice broke through Darcy’s thoughts.

The brunette grinned a little and sat up. “What look?” she asked, completely ignorant.

Nick scoffed. “The sex look,” he accused. “You get the same look in your eyes whenever you think about sleeping with one of us.”

There was a long pause before Darcy replied, “Why don’t you draw us a bath?”

* * *

 

Darcy nearly rolled her eyes as she got into the car, a phone to her ear. “No, Mom, I can come pick you up,” she repeated for what must have been the millionth time that day. “I’m going out to run some errands, and all you need to do is call me when your flight gets in; I’ll be in the area.”

“If you’re sure…” a woman with just a hint of a southern accent replied. “I just don’t want it to be a trouble for you.”

“Mom, it’s no trouble,” Darcy promised. “If it was Aunt Mary and Uncle Hyde on the other hand…”

The woman on the other end of the line let out a small laugh. “Alright, sweetie, I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Darcy smiled. “Bye, Mom.” The brunette hung up the phone and started the car, leaving the parking garage and making her way into New York traffic. Her car was going to be packed once she got what she needed and piled her family in, but it would be nice to see them.

When it was finally time to pick up her family, Darcy drove over to the airport and began circling the area. She whipped out her cell phone and called Pepper. “Hey, Pep, I’m driving around the airport waiting for my parents and all,” she declared.

“Alright, hun, we’ll see you soon,” Pepper replied. “Mack’s just finished baking another batch of cookies, so we should be set.”

Darcy felt her stomach twist in knots. “Um… by the way, I kind of haven’t told my parents who you all are,” she confessed. “They don’t even know that the house I’m living in is the Tower.”

If it was possible to hear someone’s eyes widen, Darcy did in that moment. “Darcy, why haven’t you told your parents?” she asked. “I thought you wanted a nice, calm Thanksgiving, not a three ring circus of confusion, panic, and disaster… though we’ve kind of already got two of those with Tony alone.”

“I know,” Darcy whined. “It’s just that every time I tried to bring it up, I chickened out. Just please prepare everyone for the chaos?”

Pepper sighed. “Sure thing, Darcy,” she assured her. “Just… don’t stress yourself out.”

Darcy snickered. “Too late!” She pressed the end button on her phone and pulled over to the side of the little roadway, putting her car in park and hopping out. She ran up to a set of six people and instantly took a little pink suitcase that a six-year-old girl was struggling to drag behind her. She reached out to take a slightly larger suitcase from an eight-year-old boy, but he waved her off.

“I’ve got it,” he declared, though he too was struggling.

“Alright,” Darcy agreed, opening the trunk of her car and setting the girls suitcase inside. Once both the girl’s and the boy’s suitcases were inside, Darcy gave an over-dramatic bow. “Your majesties,” she greeted them.

The two kids smiled, and the boy bowed while the girl curtseyed. The second the two were standing upright again, they burst into giggles, hugging Darcy.

“We missed you, Aunt Darcy,” the boy mumbled.

Darcy just grinned. “I missed you, too.” She pulled away from the hug to greet the rest of her family, but the little girl had taken to sitting on Darcy’s foot, her arms and legs wrapped around the brunette’s calf.

A woman maybe ten years older than Darcy plucked the girl away. “Hailey, I thought you grew out of that,” the woman chided, though her voice held no malice. She turned to Darcy. “Hey sis.”

“Hey, Danielle,” Darcy greeted her older sister, hugging her tightly.

“Don’t I get a hug?”

Darcy snorted and rolled her eyes as she moved to hug her brother-in-law. “You know, Chris, if anyone other than you said that, I’d smack ‘em across the face.”

“Why do you think I say it?” the man joked.

The brunette let out a laugh and moved on to hug her parents. “I missed you guys so much,” she declared. “It’s good to see you.” She helped get the rest of the luggage into the car before she hopped in the driver’s seat.

“Oh, and Mason? Hailey? One of my soulmates made everyone cookies,” she sang and she started up the car, earning cheers from the children.

“So which neighborhood is it you live in again?” Darcy’s father asked.

Darcy looked into the rearview mirror briefly to answer the man. “Midtown, in Manhattan,” she explained. “Though Steve’ll probably take you out to Coney Island in Brooklyn sometime before you leave. He’s been wanting to go there for years, but he hasn’t had the time.”

“Is he one of your soulmates?” Darcy’s mother asked with an impish grin.

Darcy only blushed, though that of course did not pass the attention of her sister and brother-in-law.

“Ooooo,” Danielle and Chris sang like a couple of middle schoolers.

“Shut up,” Darcy scolded, trying to sound serious, though the bright smile on her face didn’t help. She turned onto Broadway, wincing as traffic slowed. “Man, this road is great if you’re walking, but forget about driving down it.”

“Do you get to drive down Broadway a lot, Aunt Darcy?” Mason asked.

Darcy nodded. “Actually, I do,” she confirmed. She made it down the street and turned another corner, driving around through Times Square until she got to Stark Tower. She turned into the parking garage, reaching into her purse and pulling out an ID. She swiped it on a little card reader, and the gates in front of them opened up.

“We coming to see where you work before going to your house?” Danielle asked, a little confused.

The brunette pursed her lips, looking at her sister in the rearview mirror. They actually looked a lot alike; there was just something different about their eyes and face shape that no one could quite put their finger on. “Kind of,” she confessed. “I, uh… I kind of live here.”

“Cool!” Mason and Hailey yelled, though the four adults in the car were silent with shock.

Darcy blushed, pulling into a spot near the elevator with her name on it.

“Are we gonna get to meet Thor?” Hailey asked excitedly. Thor was definitely her favorite Avenger—a prince who rides horses and travels via rainbow bridge? What little girl wouldn’t love that?

Slowly, the New Yorker nodded. “Yep,” she confirmed. “I, uh…”

“Darcy, you’re saying ‘uh’ a lot,” Darcy’s mother declared. It wasn’t a harsh tone, just a simple statement. “You only do that when you’re nervous or lying.”

The young woman winced. “Yeah, I was just kind of nervous about telling you all… the Avengers are some of my soulmates,” she explained as she turned the car off. “Please don’t freak out or say you’re ‘not mad at me for not telling you, just disappointed’ because I swear that’s worse than mad.”

“It’s fine, Darce,” her father assured her. “We’re… surprised, yes, but it’s okay. You had to deal with a lot as a kid because of your soulmarks. We’re just happy you found them.”

A sigh of relief escaped the brunette, and she rested back in her seat. “Thank god,” she muttered, unbuckling her seatbelt.

The group of seven went inside, the elevator shooting up when they got on. Mason was jumping around the box, freaking out over the chance to meet the Avengers.

When the doors opened, they revealed Pepper. “Oh, hi there,” she greeted the group. “You must be Darcy’s family.”

“I’m Nicole,” Darcy’s mother introduced herself, hugging the woman. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Darcy’s father was a bit less of a hugger and settled for a handshake. “I’m Andrew.”

The rest of Darcy’s family introduced themselves, Darcy holding the elevator door open for Pepper when they were done. “Big meeting?” she asked, receiving a small nod. “Go get ‘em, honey.” The two shared a brief kiss before Pepper hopped on the elevator and Darcy led her family to the common room.

At the moment, the room’s occupants consisted of Thor, Jane, Erik, Tony, Loki, Wanda, Mack, Jemma, and Fitz, all with their eyes glued to the TV screen as an episode of _Ancient Aliens_ played.

The Lewis clan, save Hailey, covered their ears just before the six-year-old let out an excited scream.

Everyone on the couch jumped, a bowl of popcorn even being thrown into the air.

Darcy lowered her hands from her ears and laughed as all attention was turned to them. “Hey, guys,” she greeted her soulmates, struggling to keep a straight face.

The introductions went around, Hailey wrapping Thor in a hug. “You’re so cool! You’ve got ponies and a rainbow bridge and everything!”

Thor smiled down at the little girl. “I suppose I do,” he confessed, not sure how else to respond.

Hailey let out an excited squeal and turned to Darcy. “Aunt Darcy, your soulmates are so cool!”

Darcy just smiled and nodded. “I know,” she replied. “Believe me, I know.”

* * *

 

It was only Monday night, and Darcy was already freaking out. “I’ve got a million things to do before Thursday,” she insisted, paying no attention to the movie she and Steve were watching. “I’ve got to get the turkey, the stuff for the cranberry sauce, something in place of those little cracker popper things because if I get those James’ll panic, kid-appropriate Thanksgiving movies—”

Steve pressed his lips to Darcy’s to silence her. “Everything will be just fine,” he promised once he pulled away. “No one expects you to do this on your own; you’ll have help.” He planted another kiss on her, this time where her neck met her shoulder. “I’ll take your family out to see the city tomorrow so you can get things together if you want.”

Darcy nodded, her shoulders relaxing a little. “Yeah,” she replied with a sigh. “That sounds good.” She got up on her knees and kissed Steve again, running her fingers through his hair.

_Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down_

Steve groaned and grabbed his phone, answering it to silence the music. “What’s up?” he asked. He was silent for a minute before hanging up the phone without a sign off. He slid the phone back in his pocket and looked over to Darcy. “Duty calls,” he sighed.

“Good luck,” she whispered, giving her soulmate one last kiss before he ran off to save the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna write Nick/Darcy smut but my ace ass chickened out because they're not one of my main pairings. Sorry about that. :/
> 
> Also, I totally love the idea of Thor and Loki watching Ancient Aliens (especially the ones that mention them) and commenting on it the entire time.
> 
> Next time: the festivities begin!


End file.
